


One Petal Stayed

by JanitorBot



Series: Game Restart [1]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman Zero | Mega Man Zero, Rockman | Mega Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon Compliant, Canon compliant right up until it's not, F/M, Family Bonding, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Navigator Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-05-19 23:33:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14883362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanitorBot/pseuds/JanitorBot
Summary: "I'm here to help people."That is Iris' directive asides from existing for her brother to function. Outside of that, her importance correlates to how effective she is in serving others. She is not meant to be special by herself.Except just by being herself she changes everything.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was ready to retire from fanfic writing but I guess I'm pulling a Mizayaki.  
> This story is a part of a much larger, overarching series. And it's going to be a goddamn ride.

“Shut them down,” Dr. Cain whispers, closing his eyes.

“What?”

“I said shut them down.” The elderly roboticist pinches the high bridge of his crooked nose. “There’s no way we can let them out like this.”

Creating another X is impossible. It’s just so fitting.

_God, we had to water down both the hardware and software just to make a functional reploid. No one could recreate X’s physical capacities so why the hell did we think we can recreate his personality? What a joke. Hubris is what this is._

And ever since Sigma, Dr. Cain has been very careful about pride.

But he hoped. He really did.

“We can’t just abandon the project!” Dr. Leonard protests slamming a fist down on the table, ignoring the various flinches of the rest of the team in the room. The lab assistants, engineers, mechanics, and other senior roboticists fly out of the way for the Repliforce head scientist, who’s marching around the workspace towards Dr. Cain.

Hah, Dr. Cain remembers almost like yesterday when both he and Dr. Leonard were civil to each other when they first introduced to Project Alpha. Then they started working together and next thing the elderly man knows, he’s fighting with the younger roboticist over the coffee machine. At least Leonard’s not boring.

“You think after all that time and money we’re allowed to be empty-handed?”

“Money, money, money,” Dr. Cain mutters quickly and mockingly, rolling his eyes. Then he snaps,” Look at the damn monitor. No matter what we do, Alpha’s personality matrix keeps breaking down. You want to create a warrior pacifist? Great! But I’m sorry to say, but that logic paradox is literally ripping Alpha apart into two. Your X clone isn’t going to happen.”

“You think I haven’t noticed that?” The Repliforce scientist forces a harsh breath out of his nose. Trying to calm down. “Okay. Okay. Let’s think. There has to be something we can do.”

“Like what? Alpha can’t reconcile both halves of their personality so we basically made two disabled reploids instead of one.”

“Then we make two reploids, damn it! Having no result is unacceptable!”

Dr. Cain throws his hands up in the air, laughing without humor. “Brilliant idea! One reploid to have all of X’s aggressiveness and the other to be what? A reploid version of a puppy? Wait, let me take that back. At least a puppy can bite. _This_ one won’t be able to pick up a gun without _short-circuiting_ itself.”

Violently, Dr. Cain shoves against the edges of the table so hard that his wheelchair hiccups as it rolls backwards. “Alright, let’s say you _do_ split Alpha into two reploids. You think I was just throwing out words? No. They _will_ be disabled. The suffering circuit, the OS, the coding – the mental link has somehow survived between both personality matrixes. Oh don’t look too excited, Leonard – that just means they’re mentally dependent on each other to function.”

Dr. Cain wheels towards his silent and tense audience, his bony hands cupping around his mouth like a faux megaphone. Sarcastically, he cheers, “Whoooo, congratulations ladies and gentlemen! For the price of one reploid you get the entire package of two broken ones!” More soberly he says,” Have mercy on Alpha and let them go.”

“Mercy? What the hell are you talking about?”

“How would you feel if your fate was tied to another person?” Dr. Cain asks deceptively lightly. “The kind of unmeasurable burden that will put on you? Don’t deliberately bring two disabled reploids into the world. We’re aborting the project and we’re aborting Alpha.”

“You’re a hypocrite, Cain,” Dr. Leonard hisses over the waves of agitated whispers rising in the background. “You talk about mercy, but you want to abort Alpha when they’re basically alive? If Alpha was a human fetus past their twenty-fourth week into gestation, you wouldn’t be so quick to – “

“Don’t you _dare_ pull that talk with me when I see reploids as people more than any of you bastards do!” The eldest roboticist in the lab roars. “You’re doing this just so you won’t lose your credibility, not because you care!”

“Believe in whatever you want. Either way, you’re not part of Repliforce’s official personnel. Your say has no power here. Take your stuff and leave, Cain.”

When Dr. Cain surveys the room one more time, all he sees are exhausted faces hovering between neutral or dismissive on messy hairs and rumpled clothing. Everyone here has busted their asses, of course they don’t want to give this up.

The bearded man scoffs.

“Fine. Clearly I hold the unpopular position here. Go ahead. See the project to the end. But when these poor souls come out broken, don’t say I didn’t goddamn warn you.”

Bitter, Dr. Cain wheels out of the laboratory. He wishes the door isn’t an automatic. At least the he can have the petty pleasure to swing it hard enough to make the building shake.

 

* * *

 

Mug growing cold next to him, Dr. Cain stares at the images that X sent him of the area where the enormous, bizarre energy reading came from on his datapad and back to the material examinations feedback at his humble monitor.

The area in the pictures essentially looks like ground zero: a crackling, twisted web of black scorches that stretches over kilometers on what looks like a smooth plateau with a white spot at the center, contrasting hysterically from the unscathed mountain range surrounding it. It’s as if something exploded inside the mountain and took the mountain and all of its natural life with it. Like lopping off a cheese cone with a knife.

The Elite Unit couldn’t glean anything from it that the satellite feed hasn’t already. However, they did find tiny traces of metal scattered at the radius of the site. X couldn’t find out what they were thus he sent them back to Cain Labs for study.

And this is where it gets weirder.

Dr. Cain examines the materials readings one more time, run the metals through the machines again and again. He double-checks and triple-checks, goes through his impressive archive of different recorded metal compositions throughout history and the world, crosses off millions of close match comparisons, and sees what’s left for the sixth time.

Nope, it doesn’t matter how many times he sees the same answer, _it doesn’t make any goddamn sense._

Dr. Cain carefully picks up one of the gleaming alloy shards between his thumb and forefinger almost reverently. The alloy shines a pale viridian or dark fuchsia depending on how the light strikes it. He stares at it in wonder and horror.

Physical Bassnium, also known as Fortenium in other parts of the world. An extremely rare element that was once thought to be restricted to the form of pure energy until leftovers from its usage were found at the end of the Wily Wars. The few samples the world has are locked up, contained to be studied and worshipped. The only reason any information based on it was released is because if anyone ever finds something similar to its composition, the government is willing to pay arm and leg for it.

The inventor is the only recorded person who ever utilized Bassnium so effectively and he kept his secrets with him to his unknown death. No wonder X, with all of his extensive knowledge, couldn’t recognize it at sight. Since the previous century, no one has found anything like it – both the energy and the physical leftover - again.

And now Dr. Cain has enough shards to fill up a litter box in his lab.

_What. The. Hell._

His data pad rings of an incoming call, jolting the elderly man so hard both the alloy and the tablet nearly jump from his hands. Cursing at both his old, pounding heart and the familiar name of the caller, Dr. Cain picks it up with a grumpy, “What do you want?”

“Hello to you too,” says the sardonic voice from the other side. “I’ll get straight to the point. Colonel and Iris have passed the activation phase and they’re in the middle of testing.”

“Colonel and Iris? You assholes really did it. You forced their births.”

“Save it, Cain. Look, I know you’re not happy about this. None of us are. And I’m not going to lie, Colonel is a bit tricky to handle. He’s all of X’s fighting spirit, justice, and determination tossed in a pressure cooker and out popped someone so self-righteous he’s nearly bordering Knight Templar.”

“Is that why you named him Colonel instead of General? Yeah, I’ve seen the other reploid orders you’ve got for Repliforce,” Dr. Cain says vindictively at the ensuing silence. “That’s the smartest thing you’ve done actually. Naming him Colonel and putting him in a lesser position will put his pride in check.” Make the child learn humility. Never give him too much power.

After all, nobody wants a repeat Sigma.  

“I didn’t call you just to inflate your ego. I actually have some good news.”

“And what’s that?”

“Iris.”

“The other one? Why did you name them after a flower?”

“Give us more credit. We named _her_ after the Greek goddess. The messenger who used the rainbow as a bridge between heaven and earth.”

"Wow. What the hell. That’s an impressive fucking name then.”

“For an impressive robot. Look Cain, Project Alpha isn’t a total failure. Iris…she’s something. We knew what her personality matrix was going to be like, but we didn’t expect her to be like this. You have to meet her.”

“I do?” Dr. Cain says though it comes out more deadpan than an actual question.

“Because _she_ wants to meet you.”

Well damn. Let it not be said that Dr. Cain isn’t fond of newly-activated reploids. If one wants to meet him, why not. He needs to take a mental break from the Bassnium - which he is _still_ not convinced that it is Bassnium - anyway.

“When and where?”

 

* * *

 

Everything about her screams softness from her spring green eyes to her long, earthy brown hair. All on a shorter-than-average thin body, covered head to toe in Repliforce’s colors of primary red and blues, finished off with a cute beret like a cherry on top.

They went through the effort to design her a robot dress. Dr. Cain has been in this field longer than anyone else – hell, he’s the first in reploid engineering and manufacturing - and this is the first time he has seen a robot dress.

“I heard you were involved with Colonel’s creation and mine,” Iris says demurely in a soothing voice. “Colonel is terribly busy with his new role so I’d like to say hi on his behalf as well.”

The elderly roboticist shoots a look at Dr. Leonard, brows raised. “Is that the latest Piaf Voix’s Voice Generation System? Is she going to be working at Repliforce or someone else’s back-up singer?”

“She’s going to be in telecommunications,” Dr. Leonard replies flatly.  

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Iris,” Dr. Cain says turning back to the recently born reploid with an obviously kinder attitude than to the other human in the room. “I’m Dr. Cain. I heard you wanted to meet me?”

She nods with a small smile. “You were the one father who wasn’t there during mine and my brother’s activation. I wanted to see you.”

Gaping, the roboticist whips his head to the other so fast, his long beard followed him like an afterthought. Dr. Leonard is smirking.

A newly-activated reploid not only understanding the concept of family, but also readily accepting it and applying it to herself. Many reploids do not see the labs and factories they were born in as their birthplaces, less alone see the teams of humans behind their manufacturing as parents.

The only robots Dr. Cain knows who have used familial terms straightly are X in regards to Dr. Light, and his own lost son, Sigma, before the Maverick Hunters organization was created.

Both the maybe-Bassnium and this. Perhaps today’s the day Dr. Cain can get a heart attack. Kick the bucket from the nonstop surprises. 

“I see…” the bearded man says slowly. “How was your day today? How are you feeling?”

Iris hums with a finger raising to sit on the side of her chin contemplatively.

“My day was very fulfilling,” Iris reports finally with a light cheer. “I learned so many new things today! After I was given the rundown of my systems, the Repliforce scientists were kind to let me have some free time while they attended to Colonel. I used it to look up emotions and facial expressions as much as I can without falling into recharge.”

“Emotions and facial expressions? Who told you to look them up?”

The reploid tilts her head. “No one did.”

“So it was all your choice to look them up. One hundred percent all you.”

“Yes. I wanted to understand the people around me better. It’s very hard because there’s all of these big, strange things like psychology and culture that can influence the way people express themselves, but I’ll do my best! Understanding people is the first step to helping them!”

“Because helping people is your directive?” Dr. Cain says weakly.

That feminine, youthful face gives a small sad frown. “I don’t like to think that I’m helping people because I was made for it. I like to think it’s because I simply want to. I want to help make a world where we can all get along with each other.”

Oh god. The wave of X déjà vu is so strong it’s a tsunami, barreling into Dr. Cain and he’s left choking in the watery pressure. He can’t even bother to work up the ire to glare at Dr. Leonard who’s appearing increasingly smug. Damn him, Repliforce shouldn’t be proud of what they’ve done.

Just as X’s valor is in Colonel, supercharged - all of X’s kindness, compassion, and love for peace is in Iris, a rainbow of goodness. She’s barely a week old and already she’s concerned for the world.

And this impossibly sweet person is fatally tied to a robot whose designation is his rank, existence stripped to the singular purpose to always fight. Combating Maverickism is life costly. Iris can be on the other side of the planet kept in an impenetrable nuclear fallout shelter and she would still be at risk as it will for the rest of her life because of Colonel.

 _Maybe it’s more fitting to see Iris as a flower_ , thinks Dr. Cain, full of pity.

This small, pretty thing has an expiration date.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to clear up that the concept of how Iris and Colonel were created is NOT MY IDEA. I've noticed that I received messages that how I wrote their conception is fascinating in both this fic and in "Nothing More Frightful than Infinity." In the Megaman X supplementary materials (which I'm aware that most people don't read because they're not as stupidly obsessed as I am), it explains that Colonel and Iris were supposed to be one ultimate peace loving, combat reploid based on X, but the personality paradox split them apart. I’m just basically running that idea, interpreting it my own, and placing it in this bizarre universe.

Even three weeks in after her activation Iris doesn’t think she’s important. She certainly doesn’t _feel_ important.

That’s why she’s so touched that her mothers and fathers (she has _so_ many, isn’t she fortunate?) care so much about where they’re going to place her. As far as she’s concerned, she exists to be both her brother’s keeper and a conscience. Everything else is a very happy bonus.

It’s wonderful that she’s surrounded by such good people.

But they do confuse her sometimes. Like right now for instance.

“I’ll be working for the Maverick Hunters?” she repeats. “I don’t mean to question you – “and she sincerely doesn’t – “but shouldn’t I be working close with my brother in Repliforce Headquarters?”

Head scientist Dr. Leonard sighs, running a callused hand through his short, blonde hair. This father has been so tired lately it makes Iris’ heart ache. Her next research should be how to help people relieve stress and fatigue.

“Iris, we told you that as long as you’re within Colonel’s range you’ll both be fine. Don’t worry about it too much.”

“It’s not our lives that I’m worried about. I’m aware that we can function long-distance from each other.” Iris looks down, her brown bangs shadowing her face. “It just makes me sad because we spend so little time together as a family and we’re already separating.”

“아 세상에, 강아지를 치는 것 같아,” moans Dr. Kwon, one of Iris’ mothers, who’s standing a couple meters behind Dr. Leonard next to Dr. Gutiérrez and Dr. Edochie.

Ashamed at her ignorance, Iris flinches as if those foreign words are a lash of a stick. There’s more languages out there besides English that her parents use. She should request some language programs to download and integrate to understand them better. Emotions, psychology, therapy, ethics, stress relief, languages – there’s so much she has to know and she knows so little. Will she ever learn them all? 

Dr. Leonard shoots a sharp glare at the female scientist behind him before swiftly returning his attention to Iris.

“Iris, you and Colonel can still visit each other,” Dr. Leonard says soothingly and slowly as if talking to a child, which Iris is very much aware that she is one. “You’re still part of Repliforce. But do you know why Repliforce was created?”

“To protect the innocent and their honor,” she answers. That’s what Colonel told her.

“Sure, that too. But do you know what Repliforce’s _exact_ directives are?”

When Iris says nothing, the human scientist raises a loosely closed hand and sticks a finger out for every goal he verbally lists out.

“One: compensate for Sigma and Doppler program failures. Two: uphold Reploid sciences, research and development. Three: maximize reploid efficiency. Four: increase troop response time for the Maverick Hunters. And finally, five: prevent further Maverick action.”

“In a way, Repliforce is augmenting the Maverick Hunters. It is because of number four that you’ll be stationed at Hunter Base to directly learn from their Navigators on how to become an effective operator. Once you’re done with your training, you will be an operator for both the Maverick Hunters and Repliforce since the Hunters lost a lot of Navigators recently. You’re going to help them until they get better, okay?”

And helping people get better is important.

Accepting this answer, Iris smiles. “Of course! I’ll do my best!”

“Good girl.”

The young reploid blushes, pleased.

“Now go to your recharge tube. You’re going to have a big day ahead of you tomorrow.”

“Yes, Father,” she dutifully answers.

That’s another thing that confuses Iris too. Every time she calls her parents what they are to her, they look more and more uncomfortable. The laughingly limited facial expression database that she has tells her that they appear ‘guilty.’

Iris doesn’t understand. Her parents have done nothing but help her and other people. Maybe her database is wrong? It doesn’t surprise her if it is. She’s disabled after all.

 

* * *

 

After the human Repliforce personnel bid her good night, Colonel enters the lab five minutes later. Before Iris can properly greet her brother, Colonel breaks the quiet first.

“You shouldn’t call them fathers and mothers.”

Iris blinks, tilting her head inquisitively.

“They’re not real family. They’re scientists who were given a directive to build us so we can carry out our directives in turn. You shouldn’t get attached to people who we’re not going to see again once we begin our jobs.”

“Maybe,” Iris defers hesitantly. “But I’d like to think them as family. I’d like to think of everyone as family. It just makes the world a much fuller and brighter place when I think of people that way. That everyone is a friend I haven’t met yet.” 

Colonel’s face is always aloof, fittingly stoic for the soldier reploid. But the corners of his stern lips turn downwards at Iris’ words. He disapproves.

“That’s a dangerous way to think,” he says confidently – something that Iris, who constantly doubts and worries, is so impressed by. “It’ll hurt you. The world isn’t a good place. If it was, there’s no need for me to exist. There wouldn’t be a need for the Maverick Hunters or Repliforce to exist.”

He marches towards Iris, every step a curt, steady clack across the clean tiled floor. Once he’s in front of her, Colonel bends his neck to gaze down at the smaller reploid with his arms folded behind his ramrod straight back.

“The world is full of evil people who pretend to be good and innocent. For your safety, I advise you to not be so trusting. Don’t think of anyone as family. Understand?”

The brunette shrinks back. She understands where Colonel is coming from, she really does – it’s his role to fight against evil and to serve justice. To protect the innocent, to be righteous. And that means to be constantly vigilant.

He has to distrust everyone. Colonel is truly her opposite.

It makes Iris melancholy that they can’t easily share their views even though it can’t be helped. It’s just who they are. Still…

“It’s okay if you don’t see me as your family,” Iris speaks earnestly and softly, her words almost drifting away with the low background humming of the various lab machines around them. “You will always be mine, Colonel.”

Now it’s the taller reploid’s turn to hesitate.

Seconds tick by until Colonel’s shoulders relax, his arms falling to his sides. He bends on one heavily armored, yellow striped black knee gently, his height matching Iris’. Sharp dark eyes level with spring green, doe ones.

“You’re the exception,” Colonel declares. “If I don’t trust you, how can I trust myself? You’re the other half of me after all.”

Oh, so he knows that too. The lab assistants really aren’t as quiet as they think they are.   

“But understand that because of who I am, I have to take risks. I _will_ take risks. Promise that you will not become too attached to me, sister. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

Moved, Iris’ tear ducts activate enough for her eyes to grow wet. Colonel, despite how cold he seems, is really a good and kind robot. She’s so lucky she has such a sweet brother.

“I can’t make that promise,” the peaceful reploid apologizes gently. “I already love you.”

After all, it’s hard not to get attached to family.

 

* * *

 

Thousands of buildings and sprawling streets with people hustling and bustling, the city an organized chaos under the infinite expanse of the sky. Colorful, everything is so colorful, and no matter how many times she’s gone through it, hands and face pressed against the window at the back seat of the transport, she’s always in awe.

She relishes the moments when the car slows to a stop at the intersections. She can sneak glimpses into the lives of different strangers and guesses what they’re doing.  

A little boy dragging his father’s hand to the window of a mini mech pet shop.

A woman rushing to help an art student struggling with a shaky cart full of supplies across an uneven sidewalk.

A young teen pushing his grandmother’s wheelchair as he runs down the narrow pathway through a park, racing against no one and delighting in the elderly human’s shocked laughter.

And then the car moves again, their lives blurring past away with her view frame.

The transport parks across the street from her destination. Slowly Iris is filled with apprehension at the sight of the colossus reminder of the danger that crawls beneath around her.

She can’t understand why anyone would want to hurt another person. It fundamentally makes no sense to her.

That’s why the Maverick Hunters Headquarters is both beautiful and uncomfortable. Twin glass towers with connecting bridges and a golden orb sitting right before arched point. A reflective blade aiming for the sun, standing tall at the center of Abel City like a silent guardian.

The sword and shield for those who cannot protect themselves.

Iris reads the slogan engraved in the arched gate at the entrance a few more times, thinks of her brother, then walks in.

 

* * *

 

Iris greets nearly every reploid she meets on her way to the Command Center.

It’s her new favorite thing to do: sometimes she catches a passerby’s eyes and she sneaks a hi in those precious seconds before the other reploid looks away, pretending they weren’t staring at her. Mostly she gets confused looks or no acknowledgment, but sometimes she gets a polite smile, even a verbal greeting back.

Iris wants everyone in Hunter Base to know that she’s a friend.

Then she gets to one of the highest floor (it turns out Command Center sits inside the giant golden sphere she saw from the outside) and she’s already being directed to watch the most senior Navigator before anything else.

It doesn’t take a minute for Iris to realize that being an operator is way more complicated than it initially seems.

As a newbie, she’s shadowing for now. The younger reploid watches, amazed, at the sheer precision, efficiency, concentration that the veteran Navigator exhibits before her, Alia coolly juggling multiple tasks at the same time without frying a circuit.

“This neighborhood has been abandoned after the previous Maverick attack. Expect few civilians but keep in mind that the buildings here are still fragile. Proceed with caution,” Alia reports before switching off the comm to one unit, fingers already pulling up five different mechaniloid profiles on her monitor screen.

“Ranger Unit Troop C, the mechs that you’re facing seem to be a custom job based on the Hover Gunner,” she answers in another channel. “In fact, they may be powered by MAME-Qs. Elevating Irregular status to Maverick.”

Seconds later she’s sending out evacuation alerts from the perimeter, taking dispatch calls passed from PSAP Navigators when she needs all her focus on one squad, orders spilling from her lips as if she was activated for it.

This continues for a good thirty minutes. When all there’s left is a single patrol to focus on and the emergency calls sent to the veteran Navigator go miraculously quiet, Alia rests back into her seat with closed eyes, deeply exventing from her nose. A small respite. When she opens her eyes, she glances at Iris, whose mouth is open in wonder.

“Ever since the previous war, it’s been hectic juggling multiple units and troops like this,” the operator says plainly. “But with the new reploids entering the force like you, it’ll get smoother.”

Iris scans around the Command Center again in a whole new light. “It’s not enough with forty-four Navigators…?”

“And we’re supposed to have way more than that. Think of it this way: Abel City has a population of eight million humans and reploids. We receive an average of sixteen to seventeen thousand calls a day in which the PSAP Navigators have to quickly decide whether they involve real Mavericks or it’s a fake report. If the caller makes a mistake and there is no reploid involved, calls have to be passed to the human police.”

Alia points at the digital map of the city at her monitor full of bright routes, dots of various colors scattered here and there, sometimes in clusters, and a feed of recently received transmissions and incidents scrolling at the side of the screen.

“As the calls go higher and higher in the hierarchy, that’s when we have to reserve the time to acquire all the details of the emergency the caller is experiencing. If it’s a reploid, it’s easier: we can receive location coordinates and even visual feed depending on the model. Humans are harder: usually they don’t know where they are during the attack and so we have to further pinpoint their location with the transmission towers. It’s even worse when there’s a large attack and we have calls flooding in all over the same incident. If we aren’t data-orientated reploids, it would be nearly impossible to handle all of that. And that’s just for the calls.”

Alia taps a couple buttons on her master keyboard and specific unit profiles show up, hogging enough space that the map grows smaller to accommodate.

“We have eighteen units, each of them composed of multiple troops, and more than half of them are constantly on patrol. If any of the Hunters engage with an Irregular or a Maverick, we’re sending out evacuation orders, researching the sector background in case of any other environmental abnormality can affect their work. And if they’re having serious trouble, we need to pull up data over data, find the nearest units and send back-up – you get the point. The work doesn’t end.” 

“And this is all while watching the satellite feeds in case there’s an attack so large that multiple sectors fall silent. Communications fall down, which then we can assume that we’re at a war again.”

Iris shivers. Alia ticks off maybe a portion of the responsibilities and duties that Iris is expected to conduct later and it’s all already so overwhelming.

And war? _War?_ Iris has heard of Sigma’s Rebellion and the Doppler Invasion, but she doesn’t know the gritty nitty details of them. One time she tried to learn more and the results - the articles, the obituaries, the anti-reploid propaganda, the photos and videos of the tragedies and the bodies – she ended up crying. She couldn’t look it up again.

She knows so many people died and she can’t…she can’t even imagine how that’s like, for so many lives, every one of them with a home, a job, a family like a sister or a beloved brother - people who they care and people who care them back - to just vanish like that, from something so _meaningless_ like violence.

It’s...it's...

Iris swallows the block in her throat.

“Don’t be too nervous. Eventually you’ll get used to it,” Alia says over Iris’ internal turmoil. “With a job like this, you’ll develop thicker cables in no time. Now do you have any questions so far?”

She has so many. She wants to ask why do Mavericks happen, why do people hurt each other, why can’t everyone just get along – it makes so much sense that way so why can’t the world see that?

But Iris understands that Alia means any questions relating to being a Navigator so the brunette tosses out a clarification one.  

The brunette forces her voice to be clear. “I heard you say eighteen units, but aren’t there only seventeen…?”

“We do have eighteen units. After the first war, Maverick Hunters established the Zeroth Unit for Captain Zero.”

Iris’s lips twitch in a smile. “Captain Zero of the Zeroth Unit? That’s really fitting.”

“It is, isn’t it? But honestly Captain Zero is so effective at what he does, he deserves having a unit named after him. It’s just a coincidence that his name is numerical in nature.”

Alia grins, proud of her co-workers. “He and X don’t really need a Navigator to focus on them. All we have to do is give them a mission if there is one and only check on them if they’re on an op. Otherwise we basically let them do what they want. Any Navigator trying to help them is inefficient use of personnel.”

“Oh wow…” Iris whispers. 

Then Alia’s monitor lights up, signaling another call. Swiftly, the Navigator’s eyes sharpen and she’s back into work mode.

“Hunter Base to Second Unit Troop B. Understood, will be sending back-up immed – “

Then Alia freezes. Iris is standing behind her and so she can’t see her face, but Alia’s tense shoulders and still hands speak volumes.

“The white reploid again…?” the blonde operator whispers. She resurges just as quick, summoning the Abel City map again. “Ninth Unit is the closest to your location. I’ll direct them to you. If possible, get a clear visual if you can, sir.”

It’s the only moment throughout the Iris’ time at the watch floor that Alia has lost her composure like that.  

 

* * *

 

It’s been nonstop learning and integrating Maverick Hunter protocols, familiarizing with the critical contacts of different organizations, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each unit (except the Zeroth and the Seventeenth Units - apparently there’s not enough information about their leaders?), shadowing Alia and multiple other senior Navigators, collapsing in recharge, then repeat.

Iris barely has any spare time. She can manage a “Good morning, Colonel!” and “Good night, Colonel!” to her brother whenever she feels his presence available in their shared channel.

A week later, Iris has gotten a hang of things around Hunter Base even though she has accumulated enough knowledge that it feels like she’s going to overheat any moment.

It’s to the point that one morning Iris dazedly walks into Command Center and Alia takes one head-to-toe scan over the smaller reploid, frowning.

“You look like you’re on the verge of short-circuiting,” Alia declares, dark blue eyes sharp. “Aren’t you recharging on time?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Iris answers dutifully. “I've been entering my tube at exactly 2200 hours and waking up at 0600 hours.”

Alia’s eyes narrow as if she can visually comb through lies and Iris squirms on the spot at the attention. Finally, “Perhaps I’ve been driving too much information into you. Your profile did state that you were activated a little over a month ago and that’s unusually young for the reploids the Hunters take in…”

The older Navigator waves the brunette off. “Take the rest of the day off. Let your analysis routines get a cool down. Be back here at the same time tomorrow.”

The first thing Iris thinks of is visiting her brother.

A quick comm suggestion later, Iris gets turned down with an apology. Colonel is with Repliforce’s Navy forces and isn’t even in Abel City anymore. Though she voices back cheerful encouragements, inside Iris is stunned that she lost track of her own brother’s whereabouts. She and her brother have been so busy with their respective work that Iris is no longer effectively following Colonel’s schedule.

Now standing in the middle of an empty hallway, she’s essentially left to her own devices.

_Maybe I can take a walk outside?_

But where should she go?

_A public park sounds nice. I remember there’s a nice big one at Sector North – 10…_

Which requires a ride, which requires zennies that she doesn’t have.

_I can walk all the way there?_

But Iris is now very aware how dangers pop out of nowhere, anytime and anyplace. She’s a non-combatant reploid with no means of self-defense walking around in Abel City where seemingly docile reploids can go bolts out of the blue. If it was just her life alone, she might have taken that risk.

_But I’m connected to Colonel. I can’t risk my brother because of my own selfishness._

Iris sighs. It’s not Colonel’s fault that they were built this way, but she wishes that she isn’t such a burden on him.

“Whoa, watch out!”

Iris swivels around, her long brown ponytail sailing through the air at the sound of the voice behind her. Viridian eyes spot an unstable tower of datapads shadowing her and she squeaks, arms reflexively raising up to guard her face. The tablets fall and she falls with them.

“Ow…” Iris moans rubbing her head. She opens a shut eye down at the mess around her. She’s covered in data pads, her red beret sitting a meter away from her.

“Oh smelt me, I am so, so sorry about that! Are you okay?”

Standing in front of her is a very round yellow reploid with an external white mouth guard, eyes wide in concern.

“I’m fine!” Iris chirps, quick to put the other reploid at ease.

“I’ve got the most imbalanced gyros in the entire base,” the reploid groans, lifting a hand towards Iris. The brunette giggles, taking the hand and gets pulled up to her feet in turn. She brushes off the dirt from her dress, places her beret back to its rightful place then starts collecting the data pads.

“Oh gosh, you don’t need to!” the yellow reploid says as he hurriedly bends down to retrieve his pads at a speed faster than Iris. “It’s all my fault for being a super clumsybot, I swear…”

“No worries. Besides it seems awfully difficult to carry all those pads by yourself.” Iris has a good seven data pads and she jostles them until they sit comfortably in her arms. “Where are you taking these? I’ll help you carry them.”

“Would you really? You’re so nice!”

Iris blushes. “It’s no big deal. I just like helping people.”

“Then I’m really glad I ran into you! Well not the whole crashing into you and making you fall part, but y’know, just meeting you in general…” the yellow reploid shakes his head. “Anyways, I’m Double. What’s your name?”

“I’m Iris. It’s very nice to meet you, Double,” Iris smiles, already becoming fond of this new friend.

“Iris? That’s a really pretty name,” says Double as he starts walking down the hallways, Iris naturally falling step just next to him. “You must be a pretty special bot then.”

“Oh no, I’m just like any other reploid!”

“You don’t look it though. I’ve never seen a reploid with your design before.”

Bashful, Iris focuses on the data pads in her hands. “It’s the dress, isn’t it? I’ve seen some people staring at me because of it…”

“That’s kind of part of it. But there’s something about you that’s just different. Like you’re not supposed to be a Hunter…”

Iris blinks. “Well, I am technically Repliforce. Could that be it?”

Double turns around a corner. “Repliforce?” he repeats lightly. “I did hear that the Maverick Hunters have a couple Repliforce bots doing some work here, but I don’t know what Repliforce is really about. Can you tell me, Iris?

“Repliforce is a separate anti-Maverick organization,” Iris replies remembering what her parents and Colonel have told her. “The best way I can sum it up is that it’s a bigger, more military-orientated Maverick Hunters made to help augment the Hunters.”

“A bigger Maverick Hunter organization?” Double whistles. “I didn’t know the Mavericks are causing that much trouble. Though I shouldn’t be surprised considering how crazy the world is becoming.”

 _You mean the world is getting worse?_ Iris doesn’t say. Instead she bites the inside of her cheek.

Double stops in front of one of the many doors lining down a mostly empty hallway. He knocks on the door and when he doesn’t receive a response, he shrugs and carefully lays the data pads on the ground next to the door. Iris follows suit.

“Thanks for helping me, Iris. You’re the best,” Double grins again. “Are you busy?”

The brunette shakes her head.

“Then want to head to the canteen and refuel together? I became a rookie Hunter recently so I don’t really know anybody yet…”

“Of course!” In fact, she’s ecstatic. “I’m new here too! I haven’t been training as an operator that long either so I haven’t had the time to know anyone else besides the Navigators.”

“Cool, we newbies gotta stick together! Follow me, I know a shortcut to the canteen.”

The young Navigator tries not to skip as both reploids continue down the spiraling hallways of the headquarters.

Because everyone is mostly working, the hallways stay relatively empty as they walk. But every time Iris does see a reploid, she resumes her hobby of greeting hi with a smile.

After she says hi to the sixth reploid, who gives her a nod of acknowledgement in return, Double pipes up. “Geez, you’re the friendliest reploid I’ve met yet. I’ve never seen anyone who seems so happy just saying hi to strangers.”

“They’re not really strangers,” Iris says. “They’re my co-workers and friends I haven’t gotten to know better yet.”

Double’s brows raise. “That’s a really interesting way of looking at it.”

“Thanks!”

Iris sees another robot at her peripheral vision and automatically turns her attention back forward, calling out another,” Hello!”

She stills.

This Hunter is completely different from all the other Hunters she has seen so far.

Sophisticated white and crimson armor and long, sleek golden hair tied up beneath a horned helmet, a hint of a saber’s hilt peeking out from the Hunter’s back. A shining azure triangular power gem sits on the V of his helm right between two cold eyes on an equally cold face.

When the Hunter is a little closer, his eyes flash and Iris gets the uncomfortable feeling that she’s being dissected from the inside out, that this robot has completely contained her insignificant life within seconds of analysis and finds her lacking. Every other reploid she has greeted has never examined her so thoroughly like this.

There's only one reploid who did and that was her own brother when they first saw each other.

It’s almost a relief – and strangely disappointing? - when the Hunter looks away, ignoring her completely, briskly continuing at the same pace as he passes by her and Double, the strands of his majestic hair following behind him like obedient soldiers.

It takes a couple seconds for Iris to realize that Double isn’t standing next to her as much as hiding behind her once the crimson robot is more than a good couple meters away.

“Sorry, Zero scares me,” Double confesses sheepishly at Iris’ questioning eyes.

“That’s Zero? As in the Unit Leader of the Zeroth?”

“You don’t know? That makes sense. If you did, you wouldn’t have just said hi to him like that.”

“He’s…something,” Iris concludes. The image of those eyes aren’t leaving her. The accompanied déjà vu isn't helping.

“Don’t get too bothered by it. Zero is one hundred percent, frozen core warbot down to the wire. He’s like that to everyone but X,” Double explains. “If you’re not X, you don’t matter to him.”

At Iris’ blank look, Double blinks.

“You do know X, right? _Right?”_

“X is the Seventeenth Unit Leader?” Iris states though it sounds more like a question.

“Oh rust me – were you activated yesterday?!”

“Uh, I, um,” Iris stammers as Double continues to stare at her like she’s a surviving vintage tech relic from the previous century. “I was activated a little over a month ago and I spent all that time on studying…” Everything else except news, politics, and history though she tried, she really did, but it can be so  _difficult._

“Oh geez, you _are_ young, no wonder.” Double shakes his head. “Still it’s hard to know a reploid who _doesn’t_ know X…”

“Is X really that important?” the clueless reploid asks tentatively.

Double barks out a shocked laugh. “Smelt me, what a bolts question! X is the reason us reploids _exist_ , Iris!”

When Iris’ eyes grow wide, the rookie Hunter continues. “He’s _the_ android. The first independent thinking, feeling robot created by Dr. Light from the previous century. His backstory is straight out of some epic legend. A human found him sleeping in a capsule for a hundred years and used X’s base template to produce the reploid race.”

“Oh…” Iris trails off in awe.

“He’s the Azure Hunter, the Twenty Second Century Blue Bomber, the Father of All Reploids, Mega Man X – pick a title, he’s got plenty and he’ll keep collecting more,” Double says a tad wryly. “He and Zero are the reason that the Maverick Hunters still exist. They ended the previous Maverick Wars all by themselves.”

Flushing red, Iris feels a waterfall of embarrassment descend to her. “I can’t believe I didn’t know…”

Someone that incredibly important has been occupying the same building as her and she didn’t even know what he has done.

Double tilts his head, amazed. “I think what surprises me more is that you haven’t met X already. X is a really nice guy and he likes greeting the new recruits. When did you start training here again?”

“A week ago…”

“Oh.” Double rubs the back of his head. “That’s probably why. X has been downright busy lately. Nowadays I basically see him come back to base just to recharge. He’s in and out of Hunter Base before anyone sees him.”

“Ohhh. So that’s why Captain Zero is like that.”

Double falters at the non sequitur. “Huh? What about Zero?”

“Well you said that Captain Zero doesn’t really care about anyone but X,” Iris points out.

“Yeah, they’re basically best friends.”

The rookie Navigator purses her lips contemplatively. “No wonder Captain Zero is so cold then.”

_A warbot is probably similar to a soldier reploid, right? He’s like Colonel. He can’t easily trust anyone so he trusts…the Father of All Reploids? The closest thing he has to family? That doesn’t seem right. Colonel doesn’t see our builders as family and he certainly wouldn’t think of a robot that he has never met as family either._

_But best friends must be the closest thing to family in the absence of one._

If Zero’s one family is so busy that the warbot barely sees him, Zero must be lonely if he doesn’t have any other friend.  

Double chokes and Iris panics. A reploid coughing is a sign of clogged ventilations and she cries out the yellow reploid’s name in concern. Double raises a hand to stop her.

“I - I’m fine! I just never heard anyone call Zero lonely. Rust me, that’s a first.”

Oh. So Iris said that out loud. She blushes all over again.

But somewhere in her heart she feels something. A connection. Sympathy for the warbot who reminds her of her brother, who shares her position as someone who can't easily see the ones they love.

And maybe just like Colonel, beneath that aloof exterior is a sweet person too. Someone who's a "sword and shield for those who can't protect themselves" can't possibly be a bad person. 

 _I want to be his friend_ , Iris thinks.

The little something in her heart grows strong like a blade.  


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One thing that I wish Capcom did more was flesh out the Navigator's duties more. Would have saved me a lot of time.

Being a Navigator is difficult.

Earlier this morning Alia has given Iris a seat in front of the monitor. All Iris had to do was take the first response calls, get the gist, and pass them to the appropriate operator.

Iris was at her fifth call when she broke down.

“He said his father was hurting his mother and I could hear her screaming in the background and the little boy - he sounded so young and s-scared,” Iris explains tearfully to a bewildered Alia. “I t-tried to forward the call to the p-police, but he told me not to leave, I’m sorry…”

“All you needed to do was ask if there was a Maverick involved or not,” the senior Navigator says, one hand sliding down the back of her blonde hair before it hangs on her nape, incredulous. “You’re not supposed to ask for more details.”

“He kept on asking me to help him…”

“Iris, if there isn’t a mech involved it’s outside of our jurisdiction.”

Rubbing her overflowing tears with the back of her small hands, Iris tries to hold back her hiccups. She’s aware that there are more than one pair of eyes watching her and she bows her head in shame.

“I wonder if you have a problem with your suffering circuit,” Alia wonders aloud. “For a reploid, you feel so much for people you don’t know. Almost too much. You’re like…“

The Navigator suddenly cuts herself off. She shakes her head. “Never mind. You’re just young, new, and stressed. Take an early refuel break and come back here at thirteen thirty hours.”

Which brings Iris sitting by herself at a very empty canteen now. The cafeteria is more of a social space since reploids can easily receive some fuel from the giant vending machines and go back to work. Reploids who take the time to linger here are usually here to spend a quick break with some companions then move on. Since it’s still the middle of a major shift block, Iris spots only a couple reploids getting what they need, drinking as they briskly walk back to their stations.

Meanwhile she’s here nursing an e-tank in her hands being useless while everyone else is working hard to help people.

It’s not a good feeling to have.

 _“Colonel, are you there?”_ Iris calls out in her private channel with her brother. She does not want to be alone with her thoughts right now.

The brunette reploid becomes more and more subdued as the time burns without a response. Then a familiar, minor static from the other end has Iris perking up, her mood lifting up as Colonel greets,” _Sorry, Iris. I was at a briefing.”_

_“Oh, if you’re busy I’ll leave you alone. I don’t want to impose on you…”_

_“It’s fine, the briefing is done. What’s wrong?”_

_“Huh? What do you mean?”_

_“You feel tired. But more than tired. You’re…”_

Iris can sense Colonel’s struggle. He’s trying to find the right words.

 _“Unhappy,”_ he says finally. _“Actually, you should be working right now, aren’t you? Did something happen?”_ His voice grows a low, hard edge to it. _“Did_ someone _happen?”_

 _“No! Nothing’s wrong!”_ Iris hurries to reassure. _“Well, something is but it’s not anyone else’s fault but…mine…”_ She trails off, hands squeezing her e-tank even tighter.

_“What do you mean?”_

It takes ten minutes for Iris to explain what happened at work to her brother. She tries to emulate the cool, professional tones that other Hunters tend to use when they give a report, but remembering the crying boy makes her throat tight and her words waver as she finishes.

Colonel is silent for a whole minute. Iris blurts out,” _I’m sorry, you must think I’m being stupid. I care too much and it’s hindering my work.”_

 _“What? No.”_ Colonel is flabbergasted. _“I wasn’t thinking that at all. Why would you think like that?”_

Iris draws back within herself. _“I-I’m sorry, you weren’t saying anything and for a moment I was scared that you thought I was being really weird or acting pathetic or – “_ the Navigator trainee bends forward to lightly tap her forehead on the edge of her fuel container. _“I’ll just shut up now.”_

 _“You really care about what I think of you,”_ Colonel observes.

_“Of course. You mean so much to me.”_

Colonel makes a noise that sounds like he’s exventing heavily through his nose.

 _“Back to the point, I wasn’t thinking of that at all._ _In fact, I was about to say that it’s amazing how much you truly see everyone as people.”_

_“I’m not sure I understand. Isn’t everyone people?”_

_“That’s –_ ,” Iris’ brother pauses, and the young Navigator can feel the other reploid mentally backtracking. “ _Let me explain. For the past week I’ve been given report after report of the violence statistics in Abel and the other cities that some of Repliforce’s troops will be stationed in. I know that the numbers involve real people but I didn’t see them as such. I simply saw my work cut out for me and the anger I felt were against the evil people out there running amok and continually spewing their waste about. But listening to you and remembering that these are innocent victims, I also now feel angry on their behalf and the injustice of it all. Any of those people could be good people like you.”_

 _“And that’s…good?”_ Iris phrases like a question.

_“It is good. I am reminded again that my work is meaningful despite how seemingly unending it is. That’s thanks to you.”_

_“I’m glad I can do something right. I want to get better at my directive,”_ Iris wishes fervently. _“Right now I’m just in everyone’s way…”_

_“You can get better.”_

_“How can I? I can still hear that poor boy in the back of my mind right now, Colonel!”_

_“Really? Are your aural sensors malfunctioning? Is your memory encoder broken?”_

_“No, I mean I can’t stop thinking about that call,”_ Iris elaborates, both a little amused and fond of her brother’s literalness.

_“I see. Anyways, if you really want to help you need to hold onto that conviction. Remember your mission above all else. It’ll help you keep a steady processor if you focus on the bigger picture. You are your job.”_

Iris personally sees herself a little less or more than being a half-rated Navigator but she doesn’t say anything. Colonel is still talking.

_“The more efficient you are in your work, the more you’re truly helping people. You understand me, don’t you?”_

She closes her eyes. _“Yes. I do.”_

_“Good. Remember Iris, you and I are two halves of the ultimate reploid. That doesn’t mean you are functioning at half capacity. It means half the attributes of what makes the ultimate reploid is in you. You will be successful.”_

Spring green eyes widen. She saw herself as a failed project but this entire time Colonel has been viewing their circumstances positively. Iris doesn’t think she’ll ever stop admiring at their individual perspectives.

 _“That’s super inspiring, Colonel,”_ she enthuses sincerely. _“I’m so glad I talked to you. You’re going to be a wonderful leader.”_

Iris raises her e-tank and drains it, ready to return to operating.

She can do this.

 

* * *

 

Every person who calls her is someone in trouble and she needs to get used to it. The faster Iris can get through the calls and divide them to the hierarchy, the faster these people can get the aid they need.

“Hunter Base operator. What is your emergency?”

_“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?”_

“Yes I can hear you. What is your emergency?”

_“Oh, thank fucking god - look, the hotarions are going haywire in the northern mines – shit, they’re smashing against the goddamn support pillars!”_

She's here to help people.

_“My co-worker is beating up a customer!”_

“Is your co-worker reploid or human?”

_“Of course she’s a reploid, why else would I be calling the Hunters!?”_

She's here to help people.

_“My boss is hitting her brother and I’m supposed to take care of her brother, but that’s under the order of my boss. My directives are conflicting. I’m stuck. Please, help me.”_

She's here to help people.

“You’re improving,” Alia says with the subtlest note of approval when Iris finishes the latest call. “It won’t be long until you’ll be trained in navigating instead of just filtering and dispatching. Keep it up.” 

Iris beams.

 

* * *

 

The ache in her body is a different kind of ache. It’s not the ache of consuming thousands of pieces of information and digesting another thousand worries and anxieties. It’s the ache of stiff limbs maintaining the same position for hours, of crunched up shoulders hunched over a screen – an ache that slowly leaves her as she leaves the Command Center at the end of her shift.

This time there’s no lingering muddiness in either her processor or heart. Iris sees this as a victory.

She’s getting better. More importantly, she’s becoming more useful.

The brunette reploid gets on one of the many elevators at the west side of the building when she internally goes through any updates in her communications network. She sees a few notifications from her mothers and fathers, asking her if she’s functioning fine or if she’s experiencing any distress from her end through her link with Colonel. Iris answers them all promptly before mentally pulling up Colonel’s schedule in her processor’s eye.

Iris wants to give Colonel a call and thank him all over again. However, according to her brother’s timetable, he should be involved with a meeting concerning the development of Repliforce’s growing air force.

It seems she’ll have to talk to him later. She doesn’t want to interrupt her brother in the middle of something important after all.

The elevator dings and Iris jumps out from her thoughts, realizing that she hasn’t pressed the number to her designated floor. She hurries to press a button but the elevator is already going down floors way lower than where her room is located. She’ll just have to wait patiently. 

The elevator reaches all the way towards the bottom. When the doors part open, Iris tries not to gasp.

The Zeroth Unit Leader stalks in, holding her gaze for a split second before dismissing her. He presses his floor, which Iris recognizes is where the Unit Leaders’ personal quarters are stationed and are much lower than the brunette’s. Zero looks exactly as she has seen him the first time but there’s an unmistakable glean of dark fluids clinging to the Hunter’s arm guards and heels. He’s come back from field duty.

“Are you okay?” asks Iris concernedly.

Zero looks at her. His expression doesn’t change but his eyes have grown sharper.

The young Navigator raises a hesitant finger and the Hunter follows it to his arms.

Understanding, he says, “This isn’t mine.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” She’s genuinely relieved.

Zero’s eyes snap back to her again, frowning.

Iris reddens. “I mean, it’s not good that you have –“

_Hydraulic fluids, energen oil, – reploid blood, someone’s blood, someone got injured –_

“I-it’s not good that you had to fight and that someone had to get hurt, but I’m…I’m glad that _you’re_ okay. That you’re not the hurt one,” she finishes somewhat lamely.

Zero’s frown grows deeper. “You’re that reploid from before.” 

That’s right, she didn’t give her name the first time they met. Iris leaps on the chance to talk about something else.

“Yes! I said hi before but I didn’t formally introduce myself. My name is Iris, I go by she, her pronouns, and I’m a Navigator Trainee. I hope we can become good friends, Zero!”

When Zero stares back at her without saying a single word, Iris remembers herself and becomes flustered. “I mean, _Captain_ Zero, sir. Sorry,” she adds meekly.

“Why are you apologizing?” he demands.

“I didn’t address you respectfully. I’m new, sir,” Iris explains. She never had to call her brother Colonel Colonel; not only is it very silly, but his designation is who he is. Positions of authority are not originally names and she really needs to get that into her processor already. “I thought I may have offended you, sir.”

“You didn’t offend me.”

Iris exvents, relieved. “I’m glad, sir.”

She didn’t know it was possible for Zero to stare at her any harder. Then the elevator announces Zero’s destination with a chime.

“Have a good night, sir!” Iris says cheerfully to Zero’s leaving back. The Zeroth Unit Leader’s slightly turned, frozen mid-step is the last thing she sees when the metal doors close.

 

* * *

 

“’Navigating Units?’” Double repeats.

Iris nods. “Yup! Alia says that I’m doing better as an operator so she says it’s time to teach me what it takes to be a ‘real Navigator.’” Sheepishly, she adds,” I may not see you as frequently as before. I’m going to be added to the night shift soon.”

“Eh, I’m sure we can make things work. I’m really happy for you, Iris,” the yellow reploid enthuses. “I’m glad that you’re climbing up the ranks!”

“Thanks,” says Iris shyly as she takes a small sip out of her e-tank. Ever since Double has become her friend, both reploids are now canteen buddies; if one sees the other sitting alone at the cafeteria, they immediately pair up and sit together.

Iris loves it. She’s having so much fun talking to a friendly bot that she’s not even midway towards finishing her own fuel while Double has already downed his.

“And what about you, Double? How have you been doing?”

The rotund reploid turns red. He rubs the back of his yellow helm with one hand, awkwardly chuckling. “I'm alright. I’m still a rookie Hunter just rookie'ing around, y'know? The higher ups are still wondering where to sort me so I’ve been bouncing from one unit to the other and doing things here and there like delivering stuff to the Fourteenth and Seventeenth squads. I’m the resident odd jobs guy.”

Iris suddenly feels a little nervous. “Do you really want to fight Mavericks?”

“I did when I first started but let’s be honest. I’m not meant to be a fighter, y’know?” Double gestures his own body deprecatingly. “If I get in a real fight, I’d sooner trip and snap a piston before I shoot a gun. Probably would get terminated five minutes into battle.”

Iris physically winces at the imagery.

Double catches the reactions and shrugs. “It’s just the way I’m designed, Iris. Someone thought stuffing me with lots of fuel tanks was a good idea for long-term tropical environmental research but here I am in Hunter Base and not in some forest.”

Vivid green eyes blink. “Environmental research? That’s your directive?”

“ _Was_ my directive,” corrects the yellow reploid. “I was built to be a general assistant for a research team some time ago but apparently I was so useless that I got tossed out.”

Alarmed, Iris’ white hands shoot up to her mouth. “That’s horrible!”

“That’s just how the world works. If you’re not useful, you get scrapped. Not literally of course, but you might as well be.” Double leans back, arms crossed behind his helmet, eyes wistful. “It wasn’t easy after I got thrown out. Nobody builds motels for reploids so I couldn’t exactly go to a place and get a recharge. I had to rely on my fuel alone to keep going. I could carry a lot of fuel and I was fine for a while, but oh bot let me tell you – _never_ try to go week without real sleep. My circuitry was basically burning by the time I got any help.”

Just imagining the hardships her friend has gone through has Iris reeling. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t your parents help you at all?”

Now it’s Double’s turn to look confused. “Parents? What are parents?”

Iris is taken aback. “Parents are your mothers and fathers, Double,” she says slowly.

“Iris,” Double replies just as slowly, “we’re reploids. That’s not possible. Mothers and fathers are human things.”

“But aren’t the people who build us kind of like our parents though? They designed us and built us and give us a place to stay for a while. They care about us functioning properly and hope we succeed. Aren’t they family?”

_They’re scientists who were given a directive to build us so we can carry out our directives in turn._

Colonel’s words echo in her mind. The way Double is looking at Iris now as if she sprouted a second processor gives her plenty idea of what the other reploid thinks as well.

“Iris, humans don’t…aw fritz, I didn’t think I’d ever have this conversation with another bot,” the yellow robot mutters under his breath. Meeting Iris' eyes, he says, “I don’t know who your builders are but I can tell you that the majority of the reploids in Abel City _do not_ see their builders as family. Maybe because you’re a custom-built done right that you have something special with your builders, but most reploids are manufactured from a short-term model line in a random factory. You ask a reploid who their designer is and they can’t answer you without looking it up.”

“I…I didn’t know that.”

When she and Colonel were first activated, the Repliforce scientists fussed over them. Walked them through in understanding themselves, their surroundings, their directives, and so forth. They provided her everything she needed until they let her and her brother go, and even now she receives messages checking up on her. She always saw that as familial love. If it’s not some sort of love, then what is it?

“If other reploids don’t even meet their own builders then who takes care of them when they first wake up?” she asks.

“No one really does. Reploids are created to conduct a specific job in mind. Just to give you an example, let’s say you’re a run-off-the-belt bot from a construction labor line. After you get activated, you go through some general education that’s not installed in your programming or data archives like maybe something that's specific to the company that's taking you. You’re then sent off to a construction site and you work there for the time equivalent to the money invested in your model line and the facilities to keep you functioning, which could be at least a couple of years.

“So in short, reploids basically activate into indentured servitude,” Double finishes nonchalantly as if he didn’t just say the verbal equivalent of a vat of liquid nitrogen and poured it onto Iris.

Indentured servitude. It does not sound like a nice term.

She shares this aloud.

“It does sound a bit bad calling it indentured servitude but I don’t know a better term to call it,” Double admits. “Humans dictate whether a reploid is created or not. We basically owe our existences to them but we’re not easy to make and nothing is free.”

“Then…does that mean both my brother and I are bound to a…”

An unknown debt involving powers beyond them? It’s one thing if her builders only cared of her and Colonel to carry out their roles. It’s another if they have only seen them as financial returns.

It’s so...cold.

She’s compelled to instantly ask the Repliforce scientists if they see her as their daughter. She never asked that before. She thought of it as asking if the moon revolves around the Earth. 

But now she’s also afraid of the answer. She doesn’t know how heartbroken she’ll be if her builders reply with anything that’s not a “yes.”

Colonel was right. It’s so easy to get hurt.

“Aw, bolts. You’re a really young, sensitive bot,” Double says apologetically. He lays a hand on her back and pats twice comfortingly. “I shouldn’t have sprung all of this onto ya. Not gonna lie, it’s a little weird to be honest. I never thought I’d ever have to explain all this until now. You’re the first reploid I’ve ever met that ever saw their builders as family. But still, I probably should have held back.”

“No, it’s okay. I think it’s good for me to know all of this.” That way she understands where most reploids are coming from and that her circumstances are way beyond normal asides from being two halves of one being. To think that her origins were unfortunate! She’s luckier than most.

“You really know a lot, Double.”

“Heh, it’s no big deal. What I’ve said is really general knowledge,” Double replies scratching the back of his helm. “Well if it makes you feel better, most reploids are usually okay with where they are. They have a directive, a job to fulfill that directive, and have their basic needs covered. It’s common for reploids to continue the same work they’ve been doing long after they’re done with their term.”

That makes sense. Iris can see herself to always be in telecommunications. When it comes down to it, as long as she can help people she’s happy since that’s her primary desire.    

Colonel on the other hand…

“It would be nice if my brother doesn’t keep fighting after he’s done with his service,” she hopes. She believes in Colonel and his strength, but a life devoted to fighting doesn’t abate her worries one bit.

“Hey, let’s talk about something lighter,” Double proposes in the following silence. “Y’know, you haven’t told me much about your brother. What kind of person is he like? Are Repliforce’s duties really that hardcore?”

It takes a couple slow minutes to get the conversation going again, but eventually the Navigator trainee spends so much time talking that she had to take her e-tank with her by the end of her break.  

 

* * *

 

“- and if thermal radiation levels are quickly elevating, what do you do?” asks Alia.

“We command the Hunters to evacuate or take cover as quickly as possible,” answers Iris. “The mechaniloid is preparing for self-destruction.”

“What are the differences between battons and lyrics?”

“Lyric mechaniloids are common in public urban spaces. They mainly operate during the daytime because they don’t have infrared cameras and have shorter battery lifespans. Battons are more commonly used in the wild such as caves because they do have infrared and disturb the environment less.”

“Battons are also used in urban areas as well,” the older Navigator points out.

Iris pauses, combs through her data banks a little more, then it comes to her.

“They’re also used in detainment centers!”

“Yes, but they’re also installed in neighborhoods that requires higher security at night. Seems like you’re holding down information pretty well,” Alia compliments as she turns around a corner, walking briskly towards Command Center with Iris half a step behind her. “Now fair warning. Overall, the Units we navigate tend to encounter less crime than during the day. However, the average number of violent Maverick attacks increase. Keep your anchors on.”

“Yes ma’am,” Iris responds obediently despite internally cringing.

Noticing Iris’ nervousness, the older Navigator offers,” Don’t get yours wires crossed. We’re going to tack you in with the easiest Unit to operate.”

“The easiest Unit?”

“We’re putting you in with the Zeroth.”

“…Captain Zero’s Unit is the easiest Unit?”    

“Both the Zeroth and the Seventeenth actually,” Alia elaborates. “They’re led by the most experienced Hunters in Headquarters. Factoring in your soft personality, I'm putting you with the Zeroth." She looks away to snort. "If I put you with the Seventeenth, X would baby you too much. So, Zero."

Wringing her hands together, Iris says, “You’re going to watch over me again, right?”

Alia shakes her head. “I’ll be with you through set-up, but after that I’ll be focused on my own task.”

“But this is my first time navigating a Unit…”

“No, it’s not. You navigated the Fourteenth Unit yesterday.”

“You were walking me through it, ma’am. I didn’t do that alone.”

“I only made sure that you knew what to do and you did well. Your decision-making skills and judgment are passing.”

“I just don’t want to make a bad call. If I make a mistake…” She won’t be alone in facing the consequences. The Unit under her care will too.

“That’s why I’m handing the Zeroth to you. If I delegated you to, let’s say, the Twelfth Unit for example, and you made a bad call? That is a potential for negative consequences. However, if Zero thinks you made a bad call, he’ll ignore it. If he follows what you say, then you know you’re doing fine. I don’t need to actively supervise you – you just have to watch what he’s doing to know if your judgment is right or wrong. He does have experience of being a pretty solid mentor,” Alia finishes wistfully.  

“Zero teaches?” Iris didn’t expect that. 

Alia smiles. “He did teach X after all.”

The First Android was a student once upon a time? Even _he_ had to get trained? That makes sense; realistically, everyone was a beginner, but the knowledge still comes across as both surprising and relieving.

Once the Navigators arrived to their destination, Iris’ circuitry grows more jittery as she follows Alia to her new section, specifically towards a seat that Iris has seen the other operator had occupied multiple times in the past. There’s barely any difference from this console from the other higher ranked Navigator consoles. Still Iris takes the chair meekly. Being in the shadow of Alia’s expertise is intimidating.

Not to mention the console that sits in front of her is so much bigger and advanced than the one she used before. Iris feels figuratively and literally small before it.  

“It’s not going to zap you,” Alia reminds behind her. “Input your code.”

“Oh - yes ma’am!”

As soon as Iris finishes typing, the screen presents her profile image and her job position, which she notes has changed from ‘Trainee’ to ‘Navigator.’ A notification pops up in Iris’ internal communications network of a new login, asking if it is her. Iris confirms a couple security protocols and finally the screen flashes blue welcomingly. As if tearing down a struggling dam, Iris gets flooded by a seemingly endless number of windows and tabs lining at the sides. Finally, the map of Abel City, highlighted with color-coded routes and dots, materializes at the center along with various incident report histories based on specific sectors and neighborhoods branching out from it.

“Are you properly authorized to the network?”

“Checking…” Iris nods. “Yes ma'am.”

Iris almost jumps with the map chirps a beep. A new dot appears onscreen, incrementally moving away from Maverick Hunters Headquarters.

“Transport VU-23,” Iris reads aloud to herself quietly. “Reserved for the Zeroth Unit. They’ve begun patrol.”

“What do you have to do next?” asks Alia.

“Hook into the comm channels with the Unit and confirm transmissions are clear.”

When the blonde reploid doesn’t say anything further, simply looking at her meaningfully, Iris galvanizes into action again. The younger Navigator hurries to put the headset on, tests the connection, and says,” Breaker one-nine. This is Base to Zeroth, do you copy?”

 _“Zero to Base, affirmative,”_ comes in the Unit Leader’s voice.

A beat passes and Iris assumes that nothing more is needed to be said until,” _You’re Iris.”_

At the warbot’s recognition, Iris brightens. “Yes, sir! I’ll be your Navigator for this patrol. I’m new, but I’ll do my best.”

_“…Roger. Zeroth over.”_

“Alright, seems like everything is working in order.” Iris feels the older Navigator move away. “I know you got this, Iris. Remember, you did this before and you can do it again. The difference is that this time you don’t have me watching over your shoulder.”

“Oh, okay,” Iris says dumbly in Alia’s leaving footsteps, then turns back to her console when she spots a new development occur from the corner of her eye. It’s a message sent by a PSAP: a public disturbance by reploids at Sector West-3 on Achaia Avenue and Eighteenth.

It’s closer to the Zeroth than any other Unit’s patrol. Iris takes it and relays the report to Zero dutifully.

_“Zeroth Unit responding.”_

Zeroth Unit’s ETA will be five minutes. That’s more than enough time for Iris to scout ahead.

She needs to look through the camera lens of the local camera mechs. Sector West – 3 is part of the business district so that means - propeller eyes? Yes, that’s it. She needs to get access to them.

Okay, to gain access to the eye mechs’ IP cameras, Iris needs to receive permission from the sector’s security management system and send notifications to the locals there ahead of time. Which means she has to…she has to...

Iris’ fingers freeze over her console. _How did the order go again...?_

Knowledge is critical. Once upon a time the Maverick Hunters had their own scouting mechaniloids that would accompany Hunter patrols, but the Council disallowed the Hunters from having any personal mechs after the First Maverick War.

Now if a Navigator wants to provide layout support, they have to connect and watch through the lens of specific mechaniloids that’s part of the public CCTV network. A strategy to curb abusing the mechs. 

However, circumstances have to justify the act. Iris needs to make sure the digital paper trail she creates is clear and in order if she doesn’t want to violate any privacy codes.

Iris half-turns. “Alia – ,” she starts, but freezes when she sees the other Navigator appear completely immersed in her own respective work.

Suddenly Iris is stuck. She can’t just impose on her superior for something as small as this! Alia is busy helping another Unit and Iris is here to help people too, not slow them down! And - oh no, according to the map, the Zeroth Unit is about to arrive at the scene, and Iris has provided neither the environmental layout nor the situation severity -

 _“Zeroth to Base: Disturbance resolved. Returning back to route,”_ cuts in Zero’s voice in her aural cone.

Iris’ face into confusion. “What? But the maps shows that the Unit is two streets away from the scene…?”

 _“I left the van and arrived ahead of my Unit,”_ the warbot explains. _“There were no Mavericks. It was a couple overclocked reploids and a misunderstanding.”_

The brunette’s face falls. “I’m sorry. If I was faster, I could have scouted ahead and told you. In fact, if I did that first I wouldn’t have passed that report to you. You wasted your time because of me.”

_“Even if you did, it wouldn’t change what I would have done.”_

Iris blinks. “What do you mean?”

_“I would still have arrived to the scene.”_

“But why? There weren’t any Mavericks. It was a false alarm.”

_“Reploids become more impulsive and belligerent when overclocked. They may not be committing a crime, but they’re more likely to commit one. By appearing in person, they’re less likely to do anything stupid. They’re reminded that the Hunters are in the precinct.”_

“Oh, you’re preventing potential Maverickism. That makes sense.”

_“Correct. You didn’t waste my time. Zeroth over.”_

Well. That’s that.

The blaring sense of urgency leaves Iris in a rush, and she takes a quiet moment to review her memories. Without the anxiety clouding her processor, she recalls the access order and feels a bit more prepared for the next alert.

She’s determined to be better at this.

The next couple incidents are misdemeanors: a reploid late for a night-shift cutting corners by trespassing through Boomer Stadium past closing hours, two belligerent reploids in a heated argument that escalated into a brawl in front of an oil bar (the argument topic was “Water is not wet!” vs “WATER _IS_ WET, YOU RUSTING IDIOT!” Iris feels a little bad for giggling), and a taxi burglary, which turned out to not be a burglary.

The civiloid driver locked himself outside of his vehicle and forgot that he can open it remotely. He’s new to the job apparently. Iris can relate. 

The crimes are so minor that Iris gradually eases up. It also helps that Zero’s cool professionalism is rubbing off on her, her rattling anxiety dwindling down until it becomes an almost nonexistent thrum.

“And more and more reploids are undergoing illegal custom jobs?” asks Iris, continuing the previous thread of conversation as she disengages from another security mech. The Zeroth squad has already sped away so utilizing the same mech is no longer needed.  

 _“Yes. It’s cases such as those when the Hunters do cooperate with the policemen,”_ says Zero. _“Reploids who want extensive custom jobs typically go to human mechanics to provide the service. Since the criminals involve both reploids and humans, the case is shared by Hunters and the cops.”_

“Human mechanics? Is there a reason for that?”

 _“Humans generally receive less scrutiny than reploids do when purchasing components for a custom. If a reploid orders materials that can be combined together into creating faux skin, data-combers are going to look into that. If a human does, combers can end up finding a make-up artist.”_ The Zeroth Unit Leader makes a soft noise - so quiet it borders nonchalant - to be effectively read as disdain or amusement, but Iris doesn’t have many comparisons to pull from. _“It’s not uncommon for prosthetic clinics to act as fronts for illegal custom workshops these days.”_

Iris was so invested in the conversation, she jumps when she receives an alert. Face red, she manages not to stammer relaying the message. “Sir, an alarm got set off inside the Eisenberg factory at Sector South – 27, Halzmath and Caraina.”

_“Acre Park then. Responding.”_

As soon as Zero enters radio silence, Iris briefly researches the neighborhood, and silently recoils.

 _Hope for the best, prepare for the worst_ , thinks Iris determinedly before hooking into a batton from another sector (there’s nothing to latch on in the actual neighborhood), the feed dominating her screen again. The eyes through a batton is drastically different from those of the propeller eye mechs: unlike the black and white surveillance imagery that the eye mechs give, the battons’ cameras are funneling her green footage, the overall quality so much clearer and the control smoother.

The Zeroth Unit transport will arrive on-site in ten minutes. Iris pushes the little batton to fly swiftly ahead, scanning as she goes.

What’s notable is that there _isn’t_ much to note; the streets that her possessed mech passes over are empty, lying next to vacant lots and seemingly vacant houses, sitting low and lonely between yards of dead grass. The only signs of life she can find are the rolling E-Tanks and speckles of trash littered along the curb, and Abel City’s hot-blooded highway separated by monumental pillars and forlorn chain-link fences, like a border.

How can such a seemingly empty place have a history of heavily reported crime?

“There’s barely anyone out on the way here, sir. You should have a smooth ride to the location,” Iris says, partly just to say something. “Approaching Eisenberg. Beginning a perimeter check.” 

_“Which recon mech are you using?”_

“A batton, sir.”

_“Turn off the homing option, set its radar to five kilos and switch on echolocation. If this is what I think it is, the batton is going to find our problem for us.”_

Iris proceeds to do just that and watches her feed jerk towards the left.

“Going further down south from Caraina. Wait, it just turned west at Grotwood. I’m following along the compound wall – oh, there’s a reploid here!”

_“Return to manual or else the batton is going to tackle our Maverick and alert Hunter presence.”_

Before the security mech can get too close, Iris seizes control of the batton again, but she’s too late. The suspected reploid on her screen has already sensed Iris’ presence and the young Navigator can’t stop the panicked squeak that leaves her lips when she sees the reploid raises its arm towards her, its knuckles cocking back to reveal a muzzle.

Iris cries out in alarm when her camera jostles in white flashes. Her head is overwhelmed with deafening noise and she reflexively tugs her headset to sit shakily around her neck.

In her screen, the world is cracked at the upper left corner, has flipped upside down and becomes a spiraling blur.

Panicking, Iris’ hands fly across the keyboard and re-seizes control.

 _“- Iris?”_ peeps a dampened sound below her aural cones. 

Spluttering, the young Navigator puts her headset back on again. “I’m here, sir! Sorry, they saw me and opened fire.”

_“So they’re armed. This mission has elevated from Irregular to Maverick. Commencing to apprehend hostile. Did you identify the weapon?”_

“It was embedded into the reploid’s arm. I don’t know what model.”

_“So our hostile is either a combat model or had a custom.”_

Iris flies her battered recon mech higher up clumsily just in time to see the reploid losing interest in shooting her down. They scale over the factory wall swiftly, disappearing to the other side. She registers distance sounds of shouting, which prompts more shouting voices until the factory becomes one giant, muffled cacophony.

“The Maverick has entered the factory and I hear a lot of voices. I think there are multiple hostiles, sir.”

_“Understood. ETA two minutes.”_

“Okay, I’ll follow the hostile’s trail!”

It’s so silly that her core is jumpstarting all over again when she’s not even there in-person, risking her life like the Zeroth Unit is going to do. She shakes her head, exvents, and flies her recon mech over the wall, trying to stay within the shadows as much as she can. Alia told her that if she’s too eager, she’ll get shot down and how useful would she be then?

She’s here to _help._

“There’s an entrance to the factory from the back and – oh, they ripped the door off - um, you can enter the building through here. It seems to lead to a loading dock…”

The space is too wide and there’s too many crates and pulley equipment everywhere. Iris lets the batton go on auto and it zooms past the container towers rising to the overseeing platforms higher up. It flies into another door, and Iris temporarily freezes at the sight. If it weren’t for the echoing yells and increasing clamors in the background, Iris wouldn’t have moved. 

“N-no one at the dock, sir,” she forces herself to say. “Hostiles seem to be at the second floor.”

_“Not a single worker? Bad sign.”_

“There’s also signs of a fight and h-hydraulic fluids leading to the left hallway.” Keeping close to the ceiling, she flies through it cautiously, flinching at every eerie blinking light on her route. She passes through another door and hesitates right by the entrance, daring not to move past it.

“…They’re here, sir.”

Like a supervisor, Iris is on a guarded platform ringing around the upper section, overlooking down of what appears to be the assembly room. On one side are administration cubicles. On the other side are rows of mechanical arms rooted on the floor, their claws hanging over conveyor belts, their duty interrupted and trapped in time.

On the center are five garish reploids surrounding what appears to be fifty identical green and white reploids, all huddled like cattle.

“Assuming they’re armed, I see five hostiles. They’ve rounded up the factory workers here. Oh no.”

Contrasting with Iris’ rocketing worry, Zero sounds completely calm. _“Hostages. Do you have a good look on the hostiles?”_

“H-hold on, I’ll try looking them up and see what I can tell you about them – “

 _“I don’t need that,”_ Zero replies swiftly _. “Where are they pointing their weapons? Are they aiming them at the workers or towards the doors?”_

“They’re not pointing at the workers. They’re aiming at the doors, but they keep on moving. They’re kinda aiming it everywhere?”

_“They’re paranoid. Iris, fly the batton as far away from where you’re positioned. Don’t get caught.”_

Iris obeys.

_“Now go into the mech's settings and turn on the microphone and dial the volume to maximum. When I count to three, yell.”_

She gawks. “’Yell?’” Iris swivels her head around, watching the other Navigators immersed in their work, deaf to the rest of the world.

_“One.”_

Is Zero serious? She’s not the only one in the Command Center! What if Iris breaks another Navi

_“Two.”_

-gator’s concentration during a super important mission? Oh no, Zero really expects her to

 _“Three.”_  

“H-Hello!” Iris yelps automatically. Her voice carries far and leaves an awkward silence. The hostiles’ attentions snap to her along with their weapons. Instead of shooting at sight, their eyes are narrowed, confused. 

 _“Good enough."_ If a voice can be a shrug, that would be Zero's.

Down on the ground floor, Iris sees doors burst and windows shatter into showers of glass from all sides of the room  and everything descends into chaos.


	4. Chapter 4

When Iris was first activated, the lights were gentle and warm and the lab was filled with more people than she could count (yet). Even though it was quiet, all sounds slimmed down into linear murmurs like a steam with no beginning and ending to anyone else, to Iris’ inexperienced aural sensors it was too much. Every whisper a starburst of information, every new face an individual entity to wholly absorb, and the various lab monitors’ beeps and groans were mountainous tremors through her core. Generalizing, compartmentalizing, and discarding unneeded details weren’t options – the concept of options wasn’t even an option to a child like her.

Watching the Zeroth Unit feels just like the beginning of her existence: painfully overwhelming except a thousand times more wrenchingly violent, like witnessing the Big Bang.

Iris sits in her seat, agape. Too many things are happening way too fast for her noncombatant eyes to follow. It’s strange, the way she positioned the batton at a high corner of the assembly room is the same way as spectating cameras would be over human sport games, but at least Iris was able to follow what’s going on. Here, she’s not even sure what she’s watching!

After the Zeroth Unit breaks into all the surrounding doors and windows, she thinks she sees Zero, a lightning flash of crimson and gold zipping in from one side, his entrance greeted with furious shouts and panicked cries, all guns immediately aimed at him. Coming out of nowhere, huge, thick nets explode over the mayhem like white fireworks, spreading over the gathered hostages like giant hands, snatching them as soon as they land.

“Don’t panic, we’re the Hunters! You’re safe!” announces a huge arachnid reploid who Iris recognizes is Web Spider, manning right next to an entrance and the Navigator’s jaw drops further because huh? What? She didn’t even see Web Spider enter and he’s literally a giant, bright animaloid with eight legs but there he is, pulling in the recaptured factory workers and passing them to the two other humanoid Hunters next to them. They’ve created an assembly line of rescue and cover.

A crackle later and Iris hears Web Spider’s voice join the Zeroth communications channel. _“Zero, we’re going to have everyone soon.”_

 _“Good.”_ Zero dances around a stray shot. _“How much webbing do you have left?”_

_“Plenty.”_

_“Then you and Bukali stay with me. Once we have all the hostages, the rest of you escort them out of the factory.”_

_“You think there’s more of them outside?”_ an unfamiliar voice pipes in and ugh, it’s frustrating that Iris can’t tell who’s who through the comm channel.

_“This operation was planned. If they’re not stupid, they wouldn’t all be at one place.”_

_“Sir, got the last one.”_

_“Then proceed.”_

With that said, Zero twirls out of the defensive and speeds close into the nearest Maverick, a dark grey slender reploid who can surprisingly lift a bulky blaster the size of their torso with ease. They shriek and Iris’ hands reach up to her mouth to cover her gasp when the Crimson Hunter slices their arms at the elbows, the giant gun clacking on the ground along with its dismembered handlers. He knees the hostile’s abdomen, and when they crumble into a pained groaning heap on the tiled floor, processed energen fluids an expanding puddle beneath them, Zero positions the blade of his beam saber threateningly close to their neck.

Iris’ lips makes a soft o.

“Disarm or this one goes offline,” he announces over the sprays of bullets and snarls.

The assembly room falls quiet as Zero looks up the other four Mavericks, immediately hyperaware that they’re down a number, the cast of a stage play suddenly forgotten their scripts. Web Spider and a humanoid Hunter who Iris guesses is ‘Bukali’ are assemble to their leader’s side, spread apart to maintain an equilateral position, each Zeroth member having a wide berth.     

“Disarm,” the Zeroth Unit Leader demands again. “Then no one gets terminated tonight.”

Iris flies her batton closer to the floor, surveying the situation better. When she looks at the remaining Mavericks, they’re glancing at Zero and at each other uncertainly, as if silently communicating. She spies their fingers drum restlessly against their weapons, and Iris clasps her hands together in response in invisible plea.

 _Please, stop fighting,_ she hopes from the other side of the screen.

“L-liar!” the dark grey Maverick at Zero’s feet spits finally. “The Hunters don’t k-keep prisoners! You rusting crudes only c-care about the milk-suckers – !“

The combatdroid makes a soft movement with his sword and the Maverick chokes.

“Rien!” an orange and purple Maverick cries at the same time Iris gasps, “No!”

“I only severed the vocal unit,” Zero explains aloud, both to the Maverick and Iris. “You’re all useful. I prefer not to offline anyone tonight.” 

Iris is taken aback. The way Zero talked…if the Maverick wasn’t “useful,” would he have unhesitatingly killed them?

Iris slaps her own cheeks, frustrated with herself. She’s being stupid. Iris knows that this is part of her job and she’s done her time as a dispatch caller and she doesn’t need Colonel to tell her that the world has bad people who do bad things – _she’s heard them and she’s watching them fight Zero right now_ \- and they _can’t_ just get away with it or they’ll do it again and again, and that helps _nobody._

The Hunters are the sword and shield for those who can’t protect themselves. She needs to prioritize _them_ foremost and she can’t feel for every person, less alone a Maverick (but she wants to, she wants to be everyone’s friend and she wants everyone to just. Stop. Fighting. Oh bolts, why do reploids turn Maverick?).  

“Intelligence extraction from memory chips isn’t as easy as it used to be,” says the Red Ripper, his voice pulling Iris back to reality. She watches him step over the neutralized hostile, avoiding the reploid blood without looking down. The Mavericks stumble a step backwards. “It’s more efficient for us if you comply.”  

He raises his saber and points at one of the Mavericks in front of him. Iris sees the Maverick gulping. “But that’s my personal preference. In the end, the Hunters will get what they need. It’s just a matter of time. Now the question is whether you want to still be functioning at the end of this or not. Last chance to surrender.”

“Dunk in acid!” a visored reploid wearing way too many spikes and faded primary colors roars. They raise their fists, their knuckles pulling back to reveal nozzles. Just as bullets rain down on the Hunters, to which they all scramble sideways to split the hostile’s attention, Iris blinks, noticing something off. The other Mavericks aren’t attacking. They’re running, but not towards the Hunters.

“Sir, the other Mavericks are getting away. I think this one is trying to cover their escape,” Iris observes quietly.

 _“They won’t succeed,”_ Zero responds into the radio like a slam of a gavel. His arm transforms into a buster and he instantly fires a shot at the gun and it flies off the Maverick’s hands. In a blur of gold, he swings his blade at the back of the Maverick’s knees and they collapse. Zero picks the fallen weapon and tosses it at Web Spider, who opens a yellow casing on the back of his abdomen and bags it in. _“This one’s neutralized. There’s three left and we can each take one. Don’t let them escape.”_

Both Web and Bukali simultaneously answer, _“Understood, sir,”_ and the three Hunters dart off separately.

Iris reflexively follows Zero. He’s chasing the shadow of a teal and yellow Maverick who seems to be almost floating in their desperate haste as they cross the other side of the assembly room. They’re vaulting over the conveyor belts – Iris sees them futilely knocking down a stack of crates, attempting to make an obstacle and cursing when it doesn’t budge, but those lost seconds have doomed them. Zero has activated his own saber and he’s gaining onto them –

“Wait! I’m not really one of them!” the Maverick cries. They twirl around, facing Zero with their hands up, their terrified green eyes look at Zero and Iris’ batton. The Navigator shivers. “This is a misunderstanding – I shouldn’t be running, I’m sorry, I didn’t know – “

“What are you talking about,” Zero demands, patience dwindling fast, taking one oppressive step after the other while the Maverick scrambles backwards, trembling.

“I’m not even armed!” the Maverick blubbers, hastily glancing at the Red Ripper and the wall coming closer behind them. “Earlier you said lay down your arms and I didn’t even have any, but Gyrinth told us not to get caught and I – I fritzing freaked out, I started running but I’m not anymore, please, I swear I didn’t know it was going to go this far – “

Zero’s hand shoots out and it claws around the Maverick’s neck.

“Sir, they said they’re unarmed!” Iris protests.

 _“If they have any tricks up their servos, they’ll show it soon,”_ Zero replies in the comm, no change in his expression. The Red Ripper tilts his head as if he’s examining a pinned insect and Iris is suddenly very, very afraid.

“So far, I’ve only seen the reploid workers but not a single human,” Zero says coolly and Iris’ clutches her chest because Zero’s right, she hasn’t seen a single human and the implications is suddenly terrifying. His fingers dig into the mechanical throat and Iris thinks she hears something creak. “I advise you to start talking.”

The reploid is blabbing, faster now, almost bordering into incoherent sobs. Because they don’t have lungs, their words waterfalls out, no breaks. “I’m sorry, _I’m sorry,_ they said we were going to get the metals and give it back to the guys down at the Rust Strip, the ones who were thrown away and we had to help them because no one was going to, we weren’t supposed to hurt anyone but there was a security guard and he saw me and I panicked, I hit his head and I don’t know if he’s okay or not, we all came in separately so I don’t know about the other humans - ow ow owowow too tight tootightTIGHT – “

“STOP!” Iris screams into her headset, standing up from her seat. “They have nothing on them! You can let them go!”

The combatdroid doesn’t appear to be listening to her.

Iris presses on. “If they were going to fight back, they would have a long time ago. Now you’re just hurting them for no reason! Look at them – they’re _afraid,_ you have them cornered! You won! This is too much!”

The only acknowledgement she gets it the slightest narrowing of those icy blue eyes, but he’s _still not letting go._

 _If I were Colonel, what would I say?_ She thinks desperately, picturing her charismatic, military-esque brother who’s training to be a leader, the future star to his men. _What do I do to make someone listen to me?_

The next thing Iris knows, she has her hands over the batton’s controls and she drives it forward, effectively bashing it to the back of Zero’s horned helmet with a profound clunk.

It shouldn’t have done anything. A measly batton mech compare to a warbot like Zero, it shouldn’t even scratch his helm. Yet miraculously, the red warbot does release the Maverick and she watches them slide down against the wall, static sputtering out of their mouth, and she feels a wave of relief.

Then the Zeroth Unit Leader drags his eyes towards the batton’s, twin blue suns underneath the shadowy V of his helmet, glaring at Iris through the screen and the Navigator audibly squeaks, previous bravado evaporated. Those eyes spell out a death sentence.

If sweating was a function, she would be pouring buckets.

 _…I just hit Zero,_ she thinks, feeling very, very far away. She might as well not be on the mortal plane anymore _. I’ve never hit anymore before and of all the people I chose to hit, I hit Zero. I’ve gone bolts._

A tinier part of her morosely adds that there goes her chance to ever being Zero’s friend.

On her camera feed, she sees a red blur and the screen turns black. A notification cheerfully provides that her connection to the batton is lost. Iris stares at it, unfeeling.

Seconds later, the Zeroth comm channel statics and she hears a voice, deadly low, whisper into her aural port.

 _“Iris, when I return to base, we_ will _talk.”_ Then absolute radio silence. No room for argument. 

“…Yes, sir,” she answers miserably to no one.

Shuddering, she slides down into her seat again, slumping into it. She takes off her headset to grab the thick locks of brown hair framing her head, pulling them down weakly, exhausted, and it takes her a moment to realize that Command Center sounds quieter than usual.

She peeks a look around her. Everyone is staring at her. Alia in particular is a statue.

Iris turns back around and shrinks, trying to compact herself into a red and blue blob hiding in her chair.

Where’s an acid pit to jump and corrode in when she needs one?

 

* * *

 

Let it not be said that Iris doesn’t shy away from the guillotine.

She made a mistake. She stepped over the line. She needs to take responsibility.

She shows up at the loading dock with a box full of e-tanks, her internal frame colder than the wintering rush of air as the metal gates pull up, allowing the Zeroth Unit transport enter.

The Hunters spill out of the vehicle quietly, and when Iris approaches them, they look at her strangely and mutter a questioning,” Thanks?” and takes one.

Then Zero comes out last. His attention zones onto the Navigator and he says,” Iris.”

Iris gulps. Web Spider swivels his head from his captain and to the brunette, and says, “Oh. You were our Navigator earlier. The one who yelled at Zero,” sounding vaguely impressed. With that said, the rest of the members snap their attentions back to Iris, confusion replaced with recognition. One of them makes a noise that suspiciously sounds like, “it was nice knowing you.”

Iris smiles joylessly. She grabs her emptying box tighter. “Yes, I’m Iris. It’s nice to meet you all,” she says stiffly. She usually adds “I hope we can be good friends!” at the end, but not this time because they’re not going to see her ever again because she’s fired, she is so fritzing fired. She loves Colonel and respects him and his unique perspective so much, but maybe this time he’s wrong. Maybe being half of the so-called ultimate reploid doesn’t mean anything. It just means that all the intelligence went to him and she’s left with none of it.

She still can’t believe she hit Zero with a batton.

She’s going to miss Double and Alia terribly.

Zero is marching towards her like she’s one of those targets at the simulation gyms and when he comes closer, his golden hair brushing against her side, he orders,” Follow me,” and passes her, already striding back inside.

Iris mechanically nods the rest of the Zeroth Unit goodbye and ghosts after the warbot.

The moment they reach the lift, there’s already a few Hunters and maintenance workers who turn midway, greeting,” Morning, sir – “ and immediately clamp up at whatever they’re seeing on his face.

“You’re all taking the next one,” commands Zero coldly.

“Y-yes sir,” everyone else says, parting for the red warbot when the elevator arrives. He steps in, looks at Iris, and gestures her to come inside with the flick of his head. She joins Zero’s side and the doors shut after her like a slab over a casket.

Iris can see Zero pressing a floor from her peripheral vision but she’s determinedly staring at her wringing hands. He doesn’t say anything and okay, so she’s allowed to apologize to someone before she’s exiled. Yay.

“I’m sorry for hitting you with the batton,” she says into the bleeding silence. 

“Then why did you do it?” is the swift response.

She flinches. She still doesn’t look at Zero. It takes everything to force the words out of her throat.

“That reploid…they weren’t fighting back. It really seemed like they made a mistake.”

“A mistake involving collaborating with hostiles armed with illegal weaponry, trespassing into private property, attacking both humans and reploids, and firing against the Hunters,” the combatdroid ticks off ruthlessly. “A very long mistake that they could have stopped at any point.”

The brunette bows her head further. Her hands wring even tighter.

“They probably thought they were doing a good thing at first,” she manages. “They said they were doing it to help someone and I…I could relate to that.”

Because that’s all she ever is, all she ever wants to do. Helping other people. How can she not see herself in that reploid?

The Zeroth Unit Leader has no mercy. “Anyone at a disadvantageous position would say whatever they think their captors want to hear if it gets them off easy. Including lies.”

“They seemed really desperate and genuine…”

“Good liars, good actors.”

Iris can’t take it.

“But I don’t think they were faking being scared!” the small reploid erupts, her brown hair flying as she faces Zero finally. Her spring green eyes blaze. “People can do dumb things when they’re afraid. I’ve never hit anyone before and I didn’t think I ever would until hours ago, and that was because I was scared for that reploid! I was scared of _you!”_

“You’re scared of me,” repeats the warbot, expression unchanged but there’s something in his eyes that Iris would have latched on if she isn’t so engulfed with her own emotions right now.

“Because you were terrifying! I was watching the whole thing. Like you said, that reploid was in a disadvantageous position because you had the upper hand! They were a normal bot and you’re the Zeroth Captain, and you’ve won wars and have the highest record of successful terminations among the Hunters – you’re strong! Everyone knows it and you know it! How is it that you’re so strong and yet you can’t even give the benefit of doubt to an unarmed reploid? I don’t understand!”

She stomps her foot, her careful dam against her questions and disappointment and fury breaking down.

“Why do reploids turn Maverick?” she continues, mostly to herself at this point, riding the flood of emotions through her. “Why do people hurt each other? There has to be a reason! I don’t understand why anyone would do it unless they feel like they don’t have any option! Maybe they’re in a bad place and thought violence was the way out because they don’t know any better. But we won’t know if we just – just beat them up or offline them before they tell us _why_.”

She squares her shoulders and lifts her chin up to Zero’s shocked face. “I’m sorry for hitting you, but I’m _not_ sorry for stopping you. That poor reploid couldn’t defend themself! The Hunters are supposed to be the sword and shield for those who can’t protect themselves – if you’re a real Hunter then act like it!”

The elevator ride falls silent save for Iris’ heated exvents. Zero is so quiet that if Iris didn’t already know that the warbot in front of her is real, he could be a hallucinatory glitch.

It doesn’t take another second for Iris remember herself, remember who she’s talking to, and resist the powerful urge to slap herself.

“...sir,” Iris adds lamely at the end, not that addresses of respect is going to save her from being rusted.

 _I yelled at my ranking officer. Again. I’m not going to get fired. I’m going to die. I’m going to die in this elevator_ , Iris moans to herself. _And Colonel is recharging right now so I can’t say sorry to him. He’s going to offline without knowing it’s because I’m the dumbest bot in the entire world. I’m the worst sister ever._  

“…20-020-426.”

Huh?

Processor skidding to a halt, Iris splutters, “I’m sorry. What, sir?”

“That’s my personal communication sequence. Register it and test it.”

Iris hesitates but she obeys.

 _“Sir?”_ she calls out into the channel.

Zero nods. He seems…approving?

_“Talking back to me through the Zeroth comm lines undermines my authority in front of my own Unit. If you have something to say against my methods, use my channel instead.”_

The elevator doors ping and Iris distantly recognizes it’s the Unit Leaders’ floor. Zero steps out.

_“I’ll arrange with Alia to have you be my Unit’s main Navigator. If you’re not on night-shift already, you are now. Recharge properly.”_

The doors close, leaving Iris to stand alone, opening and closing her mouth like a broken drone, wondering what just happened.

So she’s still functioning.

 

* * *

 

“So you’re still functioning,” remarks Alia. The older Navigator is all cool professionalism, no signs of disbelief that Iris sees in the other Navigators when she arrived. They’re amazed that she’s all in one piece and honestly a part of her who’s still reeling over yesterday’s events is shocked too. “Zero personally designated you to be his Unit’s main Navigator. Good job, you’ve been promoted.”

Iris makes a noise that sounds dangerously close to shutting down.

She’s not looking forward to this.

Alia senses the brunette’s apprehension. “Look, when I said ‘good job,’ I meant it. Asides from one destroyed batton, there wasn’t much collateral. The Zeroth doesn’t _need_ a Navigator, but Zero went through the effort to make you his anyway. You impressed him. So whatever you did yesterday, keep it up.”

“I yelled at him, Alia,” Iris whispers. “And I hit him with the recon mech. And I yelled at him again.”

For the first time since Iris met her, the blonde operator smiles toothily. The sight is mesmerizing in its rarity.

“Iris, yelling at Hunters is what we do,” the taller reploid says. “Navigators have a perspective that the Hunters don’t because they’re up close and personal with what’s out in the field. They tunnel vision. Part of our job is to pull them out of it if they go too far.”

Then more soberly, “You’re still new so you’ll be attending to the Zeroth for a week but you will be assigned to more Units. Don’t get comfortable hitting your Hunters.”

That Iris can definitely do.

Alia then directs a much calmer and enlightened Iris to an available console and that’s that.

When she plugs into the Navigation systems, Iris tentatively tests her mic - _“Breaker one-nine, Base to Zeroth, do you copy?”_ \- except this time she’s greeted with multiple voices from the Zeroth Unit at once.

_“Hey, it’s Iris!”_

_“Welcome back, Iris.”_

_“Congrats, you’re Zeroth’s main.”_

_“So you’re sticking with us? That’s bolts, little bot.”_

_“Zero to Base, affirmative,”_ the Unit Leader’s voice comes in tersely, a subtle reminder that this is a professional channel and sufficiently silences everyone at once. 

Then in a separate comm line that’s not from her headset, Iris hears a simple,” _Iris,”_ and just like that her dread falls apart as if sliced by a great sword. It’s like she’s outside for the first time again, exhilarated to be part of a new world surrounded by a million opportunities to know and be close to new people.

_“Hello, Zero.”_

 

* * *

 

Officially Iris is now on active night-shift duty. Not that it makes a huge difference since she doesn’t really leave Hunter Base premises, but it means she now has fewer opportunities to talk to Colonel. She’s eager to tell him the news of her promotion, but it’s something important to her and she doesn’t want to relay it to him through a message.   

Especially since a part of it is thanks to her brother when it comes down to it.

But she does e-mail her pare – to the Repliforce scientists that she’s progressing through her training as an operator. She doesn’t receive a timely response, but that’s okay. She knows they’re awfully busy and she’s supposed to exchange status reports at the end of the week (but she was so excited and wanted to share the news early). She’ll just have to wait.

At least she doesn’t need to wait too long telling Colonel.

A few days later after adjusting to her new schedule, Iris secures the golden hour: the moment before Iris sleeps after her shift and Colonel awakes, she manages to word in that she’s promoted.

 _“I knew you could do it,”_ her brother says and she can feel her lips twitching into a proud smile, a faint echo of Colonel’s radiating pride through their innate connection to each other. _“I told you, didn’t I?”_

 _“I’m just starting out.”_ But she’s blushing, extremely pleased, because even though it’s so unconventional how she achieved her promotion she really is happy about it. She no longer feels she’s walking on a thin beam across an acid pit, one mishap away from catastrophic failure.

She’s not a rookie Navigator. She _is_ a Navigator. She’s carving her place here, making Hunter Base a home, and people are recognizing her as she solidifies that she’s useful.

She’s here to help people and she’s going to be everyone’s friend (except for bad people, that’s the rule).

Speaking of which, she needs to give credit where credit is due.

 _“Honestly, if it weren’t for my friends I wouldn’t be where I am right now. They’ve helped me so much,”_ continues Iris, heart full of gratitude.

_“You mean Double and Alia?”_

_“Oh them too, but since last week I’ve made more!”_ Iris starts excitedly. Colonel has activated a favorite topic. _“Since I’ve gotten promoted, I’ve been the main Navigator of a specific Unit and the members are really sweet, Colonel! Especially their captain, Zero – he’s been helping me so much! He knows so many interesting things and he takes the time to answer my questions when patrols are quiet.”_

She tips her head down, shy. _“It’s funny. At first Zero scared me because…he kinda reminded me of you when I didn’t know who you were.”_ The first few minutes when both siblings laid eyes on each other, when Colonel was this looming, hulking metal statue with icy, scrutinizing eyes and Iris didn’t understand why someone she felt she knew forever was looking at her like her life was a crime. _“That’s also why I really wanted to be his friend and…hah, he’s actually different from you, but not in a bad way. He’s his own person like everyone else is but…“_ She breaks off into giggles. _“He’s so different from everyone else! He’s so strange. He’s my ranking officer and yet he approves of me arguing with him!”_

Well, arguing may be a strong word, but Iris doesn’t know how to put it. In general, it seems Zero like Iris asserting her opinions no matter how much they contrast against the warbot’s.

Colonel hums thoughtfully. _“I have to admit I’m not sure how to feel about that. A ranking officer shouldn’t be so lenient with such insubordinate behavior. However, you are my sister and it seems he’s treating you well,”_ Colonel says finally, sounding begrudgingly approving. Iris can sense her brother contemplating nepotism on the other end. _“This Zero character is certainly interesting.”_

 _“He is,”_ Iris says fondly. _“I’m glad we’re friends now. Since I’m on night-shift I don’t see Double much anymore during refuel hours. It makes me a little sad, but I get to refuel with the Zeroth Unit so I’m not lonely at least.”_

She shakes her head.

 _“Oh bolts, Colonel, you should stop me!”_ she says tone teasingly light, partly sincere. _“I’ve been selfishly going on and on about my life. What about you? I want to know more what’s going on at your end.”_

_“Production lines for the Air Force have begun. Soon Repliforce will have all options of transit. There have been other developments, but I am under NDA for the time being.”_

_“Ah, I understand.”_

_“There is one thing,”_ Colonel starts, sensing his sister’s slightly dejected mood. _“I can say that I will be returning to Abel this week. I’m due for a meeting that involves the Maverick Hunter’s Commander. If there are no interruptions, I will be left with some extra time.”_

Iris gasps. A smile steals her. _“You mean I can finally see you?!”_ It’s been too long! _“What time? You’ll be coming during the day, right? I’ll have to adjust my recharge schedule so I won’t be short-circuiting when I see you. How much time will you have available? Oh my gosh, if we’re lucky maybe you can meet my friends too!”_

 _“Calm down,”_ her brother orders though it comes out soft and affectionate and seriously, this is the best thing ever, Iris feels so full she’s going to burst. _“Details haven’t set in yet. Even if they haven’t, I’ll see what I can do to make time for you.”_

 _“Colonel, you’re the best brother ever!”_ Because her brother is so busy and so important, and even though Iris completely understands that, she misses him.

 _“Iris, I need to go,”_ Colonel says suddenly, sounding distracted. _“I’ve spent too long talking.”_

_“It’s okay, I need to sleep too. Have a good day, Colonel!”_

_“Thank you. Recharge well, Iris.”_

Iris lingers in the communication channel even after her brother leaves it, contentedly basking in good fortune as she lifts the lid of her recharge tube.

If there’s one thing Iris can be thankful for as a reploid, it’s to have the advantage to turn off her conscious functions at will like this. If she was human, she can’t imagine how easily she can recharge when she’s _this_ excited.


	5. Chapter 5

“Was tonight difficult?”

Iris pauses midway gulping down on her E-Tank and tilts her head at Zero’s direction.

“Not really. Why do you ask?”

“You have two E-Tanks this time,” he remarks.

Glancing down at her nearly drained E-Tank and the full one in front of her, the Navigator blushes. “Oh I’m fine! I just need to have all the energy I can get since I won’t be recharging anytime soon,” she beams. “My brother is going to visit HQ a couple hours from now and I don’t want to be too tired.”

Iris has tweaked her recharge schedule here and there all week for it, but she wants to be extra sure. Colonel deserves her full, undivided and unexhausted attention and nothing less.   

“Your what is going to visit?” Web Spider interjects from across the table.

“My brother,” Iris repeats patiently.

“You’ve got one of those?” pipes in from somewhere far down on Iris’ side of the Zeroth Squad’s table so she can’t see, but she recognizes the voice belonging to Hilbis. “Isn’t that a human thing though?”

“It is…” She says slowly, remembering Double’s explanation of reploids and their gap in understanding the concept of family. How can she explain this in a way for normal reploids to understand? “But I have one. My brother and I were built by the same designers and were activated together. We stay in contact even when we’re apart.”

Iris sees some of the Hunters glancing at each other and shrugging. She can’t help but feel some pity that these reploids can’t relate.

“Don’t intake more than you can handle,” says Zero. “That’ll do more harm than good to your systems. Excess fuel have nowhere to go and you’ll be forced to utilize it to get rid of the extra charge. You may feel energetic at first but you’ll crash later.”

Iris blinks. “Really?”

Web Spider’s large metal fangs click together rhythmically in his way of laughing. “Captain’s right. We’ve seen lots of rookies who think they’ll be better fighters if they get the extra boost before a patrol only to rust up spectacularly midway.”

“Oh bot, a couple months ago there was this stupid contest between these two C-Ranks,” Bukali quips next to Wed Spider with a grin. “Abut and Sacrosse. Smelt me, it was a disaster but it was _funny.”_

The rest of the Unit starts adding in their two zennies into the tale, dropping the entire subject of Iris’ brother entirely. Iris isn’t really paying attention to the other Hunters. She drums her fingers lightly across her fuel container and enters into her personal channel with Zero.

 _“Thank you,”_ she sends.

Zero blinks. _“For what?”_

 _“For looking out for me.”_ Her face heat up. _“I really appreciate it.”_

_“…You’re welcome.”_

The warbot sounds off-footed and Iris stomps down her urge to giggle. Instead she smiles widely and goes back to finishing her current E-Tank, feeling Zero’s gaze bore down on her as she does so.

She doesn’t mind. She’s aware that she’s one of the quirkier reploids out there and Zero, being a combatdroid like Colonel is, is a super vigilant person in general. Watching everyone for every subtle movement in case of danger is probably subroutine.

Normally Iris would be a little sad that Zero is always on-guard, constantly reminding her of how dangerous the world is. But when such attentiveness shows itself in care…

She likes it. She likes it a lot.

 

* * *

 

As Iris guides Colonel around Hunter Base after he finished his meeting, the siblings attract a lot of attention. Every other reploid that the sibling units have passed by gawk at Colonel, flitting to the side of the hallways to give him a wider berth even though there’s no need to.  

Iris understands. Even when Iris was first activated and laid eyes on her brother for the very first time, Colonel was a very optic-catching robot just from his sheer size and elaborate design alone. Now that she’s seeing him again after so long, Iris can see how Colonel is truly slotting into his role as, well, a colonel. He walks with his hands clasped behind his back, chest slightly puffed out, exuding importance and charisma with every step he takes.

And from the stories he’s sharing with Iris as they walk between locations, he’s definitely living up to the importance that is expected of him.

“ – but it turned out that it was a minor misunderstanding. Spiral Pegasus mistook Slash Beast’s boldness to be insubordination. In a way, I do appreciate the mess. I never had a reason to doubt Pegasus before, but now I am completely certain that he always has Repliforce’s interests in mind.”  

“Slash Beast sounds a little scary,” Iris confesses.

“He can be rowdy at times, but that’s because he’s not used to the military environment. Unlike the other soldiers, he was designed for another directive and then he was enlisted into Repliforce.  But I see potential in him. I see plenty of courage and desire to serve. With some discipline, I can see him become a Captain.”

“I’m glad! I hope that he gets along with everyone,” says Iris sincerely as she opens a door. “By the way, this entire floor is the Navigators’ quarters floor and this here is my room!” Shy, she wrings her fingers together in front of her. “Um, it’s really large but it’s pretty empty so there’s not much to see…”

Asides from the two recharge tubes, the desks, and the closets, the room is boringly sterile. Since Iris only enters this room for sleeping, the idea to decorate never once crossed her mind.

Colonel looks at the recharge tubes and back at Iris with an obvious question in his gaze.

“The Hunters used to have more Navigators before the Third War,” she explains demurely. “They still haven’t refilled their numbers yet.”

“This is a rare instance that I would approve,” replies Colonel thoughtfully as Iris leads them back to the elevators. “You’re a communications operator, not a soldier. It is not necessary for you to sacrifice privacy for the barracks life.”

“I think having a roommate would be neat. It would be nice to share such a large room with a friend. Having it all to myself can be lonely.”

“You have comrades,” Colonel points out.

“I do! I wish I can introduce you them, but everyone is either busy or at recharge right now.”

“Hmm. Can you show me the training facilities here? I’d like to a look and make comparisons to the ones we have back in Repliforce.”

“Of course!” Iris chirps accommodatingly.

Thought Iris hoped that she can introduce her brother to Double at least. The yellow rookie is active on day duty and therefore having the highest chance to encounter.

That’s why when she opens the doors to the sparring room balcony, she doesn’t expect to see Zero down at the ring.

He’s effortlessly trapping his opponent in a submission hold, face so blank it borders boredom. It’s out of place from the pained, struggling reploid below him who keeps on twisting and pulling to no avail. The scattered members of the audience from the upper floor deck above him snicker, one of them calling out, “Just give up, Kakrin!”

Iris is not as amused. She’s already uncomfortable being here. She’s very aware that sparring is beneficial – extremely necessary in fact - that it’s training.

But it’s training to not get hurt. Training to hurt better. It makes her recall all the violence she has seen before. The real battles the Hunters go through that have very real consequences.

She shakes her head.

_Stop thinking about it. This is for Colonel. You’re here to help._

Zero tips his chin up, gaze instantly locking onto the siblings. When the Hunter chokes out,” Y-yield,” Zero releases his grip without breaking eye contact. The Hunter called Kakrin rolls onto his back exventing, taking an unspoken break. Some of the remaining audience members leave the upper deck to go down the stairs to check in their exhausted friend. Not without sparing a curious look-over at Colonel as they pass though.

The Zeroth Unit Leader walks to the edge of the sparring circle closest to where his Navigator stands from above. “Iris,” he acknowledges from below, volume slightly raised for his voice to carry to the second floor.

“Hello Zero!” Iris greets warmly from over the bar railing. With a more serious tone, she asks,” shouldn’t you be asleep? It’s not good if you’re tired when you go out to patrol tonight…”

The warbot shrugs. “I couldn’t recharge sufficiently so I’m here.”

“Are you having trouble recharging?” Iris asks concernedly. She’s a picture of complete, undivided attention. “Is there something wrong with your tube?”

Zero shakes his head. “I had it checked a couple of times and even had a brand new on installed. Nothing helped. That only leaves one conclusion and that is my recharge problem lies within myself.”

Iris’ brows furrow. “If it’s really bad, shouldn’t you go to Medbay and have it checked out?”

“So far it hasn’t been a huge liability. In general, I require less recharge hours than the average reploid. The reduced hours will not affect my competency.”

Iris’ hands tighten on the bars. “Zero, I’m worried about you, not your work efficiency.”

A strange expression flits across the combatdroid’s face.

“So this is Zero,” observes Colonel aloud, causing Iris to nearly jolt. She lost awareness of her surroundings for a moment.

Gasping softly, Iris clasps her hands together. “Oh, introductions time! Colonel, this is Zero. He’s the captain of the Zeroth Unit and I’m his main Navigator. Zero, this is Colonel, my brother.”

As if Iris activated some obscure subroutine, the Crimson Hunter has the sane look in his eyes that Iris recognizes from when they first met. It’s Zero scanning his target atom by atom. She glances back to Colonel and sees that her brother is doing the same. Despite the distance between the two combatdroids, the air becomes charged as if they’re inches from each other, glaring.

Worrying that she accidentally triggered something unwanted, Iris becomes nervous until Zero tilts his head, breaking the tension. “You’re not exactly how I expected Iris’ brother to be at all.”

“Oh? And what did you expect?”

“Someone shorter,” is the blunt reply.

Colonel’s military strict demeanor stays unmoved but Iris senses amused mirth coursing through her brother. Anyone else who wasn’t Colonel would be throwing their head back, barking out in laughter and even Iris can’t hold back the contagious urge to giggle next to him.

“We certainly don’t look like we came out from the same line,” accedes Colonel.

“Also, Iris doesn’t fight.” Zero’s eyes flash. “But you can.”

A sudden spike of intrigue that doesn’t belong to Iris shoots through her. 

Colonel’s lips are quirked at the corner. Iris understands.

She tries not to squirm in place. 

“If you have no more opponents lined up for you, how about I take you on?” offers Colonel. “Iris told me of your effectiveness in battle. I’d like to gauge my abilities against – “

The next thing the Navigator knows, Zero is activating his thrusters and jumps twice in the air. Iris jolts as Zero lands cleanly on the upper deck like a cat, strands of his golden hair framing his cool features with the momentum. With the fluorescent lights closer to him, he looks like he’s…

 _Glowing,_ thinks Iris, mesmerized. _Like an angel. A guardian angel._

Colonel whips his head to Iris, face indescribable.

Before Iris can ask what’s wrong, Zero is talking again, cutting through the strangeness that unfolded between the siblings. “You have a saber. We can duel.”

“We can,” agrees Colonel distractedly. “That is if Iris is fine with it.”

Hearing her name summons Iris back to reality. “Huh?”

“You don’t like the idea of us fighting, do you?” continues Colonel. “I felt your anxiety earlier.” 

“I’m okay!” Iris blurts with a pasted on smile. “You don’t need to think about me.”

Colonel levels her an unconvinced look. “You’re my sister. I don’t want to do anything that you dislike if I can.”

Oh bot, Iris really doesn’t deserve Colonel as her brother.

Suddenly, the taller bot lifts a hand to the side of his helmet.

“Also, I have to return back to Repliforce Headquarters,” reports Colonel. “It seems I have overstayed my visit.”

Zero frowns and Iris’ core drops to her subtank. “Already?” she says, radiating disappointment.

Colonel lowers his hand but instead of letting it fall to his side, he pats the top of Iris’ beret gently. “It’s concerning redeployment. It’s unavoidable. If my schedule frees up again, I’ll see you.”

“I hope that’ll be soon,” manages Iris with a small smile.

Colonel turns to Zero. “In the meantime, please continue taking care of Iris as always.”

“I would have done so without you telling me,” Zero responds without a beat. “She’s my Navigator.”

The knowing, split-second look Iris receives from her brother is the only warning she gets before Colonel nonchalantly says, “I’m serious. She’s pure and innocent.” His eyes narrow incrementally.  
“She doesn’t like weapons or fighting, but she likes you very much.”

_…What?_

Zero blinks owlishly and Iris hasn’t functioned as long as most reploids have so she doesn’t know much, but she’s fairly pretty certain that not exventing is a _bad_ thing and is she broken? She feels like all her circuits have been drenched in oil and set on fire, and it all comes out in a series of stammering noises leaving her mouth and honestly, there’s no reason to be this flustered when it’s the truth but -

“I like everyone, Colonel!” she manages to say coherently, not quite sure why she needs to correct him because there’s nothing to correct. Iris does like Zero, like she likes her brother and Double and Alia and is it just her or is the temperature rising? Is the air conditioning broken or is it her? “And what do you mean I don’t like weapons or fighting? I mean - okay, it’s true, I don’t like them but what does that have to do with me l-liking Zero? I like everyone! Wait, I said that twice, didn’t I?” Yes, she did say that twice because she’s rambling like a crashed drone, oh fritz, abort abort abort - “Ha ha, um, you need to go right, Colonel? I’ll walk you out of Base – see you tonight, Zero!”

Iris seizes her brother’s arm, stalking out of the door ahead of her before Colonel – or anyone – can say anything, head bowed with her bangs hanging over her crimson cheeks.

As soon she’s out of the room, she nearly flings herself to the nearest wall, a delicate fist balled against her chest. She slides down to the floor and buries her face in her hands, the urge to cut off her own vocals or to release a scream battling for dominance inside her small frame.

Is it possible for a reploid to short-circuit out of sheer embarrassment?

Colonel pulls a face. “Iris, calm down. Yours emotions are all over the place.”

“Why did you say that?” Iris cries out. “He’s my ranking officer and – and…”

She doesn’t know what to say and she doesn’t know why she’s feeling like this. Why is she making a big deal out of this?

“I can’t protect you when we’re separated,” Colonel continues. “Since you like Zero so much – “

“I said I like everyone!” she repeats automatically.

“You like him more.” Sensing Iris’ bewilderment, Colonel explains, “You’ve made a lot of friends, but you talk about Zero the most. Your emotions were potent when you interact with him. It’s mixed but overall positive. I’d be worried that he’s replacing me as your brother if it wasn’t so strange.”

“Strange? How is it strange?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t know what it is,” Colonel admits. “Between the two of us, you’re the emotionally in-tuned one. All I know that it’s different on how you feel towards me. It’s more…unstable. I’d suggest you go have your emotional node checked except it’s only towards Zero.”

“A different like,” Iris echoes slowly, considering.

A like that’s different from the like she feels towards other people.

Her eyes widen. Before she entered the Hunters, she studied emotions as much as she could because she wanted to understand other people better. There’s this one emotion that she didn’t look into because there was just _so much_. She only grazed the surface because that was all she could handle at the time. 

“I like him,” she whispers with weight. “I _like_ him.”

Oh dear.

“That’s what I said,” says Colonel matter-of-factly. Utterly unaware that his sister is at the brink of short-circuiting.

 

* * *

 

When Iris goes to work again, she’s a bundle of crossed wires, nearly dreading to put on the headset when the Zeroth Unit enters patrol.

Hearing Zero’s voice, calm and professional as always, simultaneously relieves and disappoints Iris.

She feels like she’s waiting for something to happen. Like she’s on the edge of her seat, a bizarre, warm tension that’s wounding her tighter and tighter. If Colonel didn’t tell her that she liked Zero differently, she wouldn’t have noticed that she’s been hoarding such an emotion for a while.

 _When Alia told me I should care for my Units, I’m pretty sure she didn’t mean it like this_ , Iris moans to herself silently, slumping in her seat near the end of tonight’s patrol.

The senior Navigator once told her that this job requires caring enough to pay attention to what their assigned Units require but be distant enough to not let that cloud their judgment. If the Hunters are panicking, the Navigator _cannot_ get pulled into the emotional flow and panic with them. Emotional control is crucial.

Sadly, it’s not an uncommon mistake that has Hunters critically injured or terminated in the past.

That’s why it’s so, so frustrating that Iris is like this. Feeling “so much” as Colonel succinctly puts it, and it’s only getting stronger and stronger the more she dwells on it.

_“Iris.”_

Iris jumps so hard her headset nearly falls off. _“Yes, Zero?”_

Hearing Zero’s voice in her head without expecting it is exponentially exciting and wonderful and she wants to hear him all the time and never again because she’s not sure her build can handle this.

A beat of silence, as if the person on the other end is suspicious. Then finally, _“You heard the man. Can you cross-reference the intel and see if we have anything on it?”_

The man. Human man. Who works at the bar by the river facing the north bridge. The man that the Zeroth Unit is talking to because he saw reploids going into the sewer tunnels in the middle of the night.

And this is important because that’s the current mission and Iris isn’t really paying attention because she’s focusing so much on trivial things and _she needs to get it together, stat!_

_“Of course! Please wait a moment…“_

This is getting bad.

 

* * *

 

Iris doesn’t know what to do now she’s aware. Does she do anything different from now on? Is there an instruction manual on how to address this?

It’s fascinating and terrifying. It’s overwhelming and Iris feels like she’s bursting at the edges of her plating from this compounded awareness and she…

She needs help. She can’t overheat every time she’s within Zero’s proximity – she’d be a useless Navigator!

And she’s here to help people. Useless people can’t help anyone.

One night, Iris sits curled over a datapad in her opened recharge capsule in the dark of her too-big room, too-lonely room. She types in “what do I do if I like someone,” and finds that the top results are…not satisfying. The young reploid doesn’t quite understand half of what these articles are saying because it’s very orientated towards humans and their biology, and horoscope compatibility? What do constellations have to do with this?

 _Don’t get distracted,_ Iris chides herself, shaking her head furiously. _I can learn everything else later. First, I need to find help for this problem so I can go back helping Zero better!_

She pauses. She gently smacks the datapad on her forehead.

Thinking about Zero is enough to get her giddy.

Okay, focus.

Iris glances back down to the softly glowing screen of her datapad, lazily waiting for her to make a move, midway down the third page of her search results. Her hand sits right beneath a result that cheerfully says, “10 Signs that He Likes You Back…”

Zero. Liking her back. The same way that she likes him.

For a moment Iris imagines him. The Zeroth Unit Leader standing before her, his intense gaze locking with hers. Saying,” I like you” with every ounce of seriousness that he always shows.

The desire to hear it from Zero is so powerful she bends over, clutching her chest. 

How does she get Zero to like her back? How can she know if Zero even likes her at all?

Iris promptly looks it up. She’s distressed to discover that there isn’t a reliant method to this madness.

An instinctive response when desperate, Iris unthinkingly calls for her brother – then abandons it just as fast. It’s nighttime, what is she thinking? Colonel is active during the day, of course he wouldn’t pick up! And even if he was awake, Colonel is a super busy bot - what is she thinking, automatically turning to him for help when he has more serious things to focus on? And with romance of all matters?

Okay, who else can she turn to help? Who’s someone she knows who’s super knowledgeable?

A lightbulb goes off in her head. She knows someone.

Second after Iris finishes writing and sending out a message she instantly receives a response in a form of a call.

_“Hey Iris, I got your message! So what’s going on with Zero, buddy?”_

Double’s kind voice floods Iris with relief – which transforms into befuddlement. _“Double, it’s nighttime. Shouldn’t you be asleep by now?”_

_“My recharge schedule’s not consistent. Don’t worry about me - what’s up with you? What’s the trouble with Zero?”_

_“It’s not really trouble per say_ ,” Iris starts, blushing in the dark. _“It’s more like…can you tell me more stuff about Zero? You were the first person who told me anything about him. So I thought maybe you can tell me other stuff you know about him?_

_“Hmm, I can say a few things, but you’re his Navigator aren’t you? I thought you’d know that kind of stuff.”_

_“I only really talk to him during work and when we refuel together sometimes. And even then there’s the other Hunters.”_ Iris worries her lower lip. _“I thought of asking Web Spider since he’s been working with Zero and he’s nice to me, but…it’s weird, Double. Whenever Zero joins us for refuel, it surprises everyone for a moment before they go back to being normal. It’s like they’re not used to him being around, but that’s silly isn’t it? They’re his members.”_

_“Sure, but Zero’s Zero.”_

_“What do you mean by that?”_

_“I mean he’s…y’know, such a hotshot. Fought all the Maverick Wars and only hangs with other people like him.”_

_“You mean Hunters?”_

_“SA-Rank Hunters, which is only him and X. Him refueling with his own Unit is news to me.”_ Double’s voice takes on a mischievous tone. _“Though, according to the gossip lately I shouldn’t be surprised.”_

_“Gossip? What gossip?”_

_“That he’s getting fond of a certain Navigator,”_ Double sing songs.

Iris shoots forward. _“Really? Who?! ”_

_“…It’s you, Iris. You’re the Navigator.”_

_“WHAT?!”_ Iris squeaks before she ventilations stop circulating.

_“Frag me, did you really not know? I thought that’s why you messaged me about Zero! What other reason did you have if not that?”_

_“Because I want him to like me!”_ Iris manages, high-pitched. _“I never heard about him liking me. Where did you hear that?”_

 _“From every rustin’ reploid ever,”_ Double laughs disbelievingly. “ _Zero never went out of his way to choose a Navigator before until you. He doesn’t care to refuel with his own squad unless you’re refueling with them – which you do.”_

Iris’ tank grows right with tentative hope.  

_“M-Maybe he likes me. But I don’t think he likes me in the same way I like him.”_

_“What do you mean by that?”_

_“I have a crush on him, Double.”_

_“...Oh,”_ he says sympathetically. 

 _“And I don’t know what to do!”_ Iris bemoans. _“Everything I find online either contradicts each other or it doesn’t apply to Zero. I read one that says ‘you can tell if he likes you if he’s dressing up more nicely.’ He wears armor, Double! He wears the same thing all the time!”_

_“Why don’t you just ask him?”_

_“Huh?”_

_“Go up to him and ask if he likes you that way. Who needs all those complicated, human advice when you’re a reploid? Besides, you're a really nice and pretty reploid, Iris,”_  Double says encouragingly.  _" Anyone would be lucky to be liked by you!"_

 _“Aw, you're so sweet, Double,"_  Iris smiles before sighing. " _I’m a bit scared.”_

_“Why?”_

Iris whines, which is an answer by itself.

 _“That’s fair. It_ is _Zero._ _Why don’t you get him a gift? If you get him something he likes or that he can use, that can help.”_

Something Zero likes or find useful?

Iris gasps.

_“Heh, sounds like you thought of something.”_

_“I did! I have an idea.”_ She hesitates. _“Hey Double, can you help me with something else?”_  

 

* * *

 

As she makes her way to the loading deck, Iris can’t stand still in the elevator. The good thing is that she’s alone so she can pace around in circles without bothering anyone.

 _I was talking too much,_ Iris scolds herself. _He only needed to know if there was another way to the tunnels. Why did I go on for ten minutes about the urban legends? What did reploid ghosts have to do with the mission? It doesn’t! It was totally unrelated to the mission!_

She reaches for the small pouch hooked at the side of her waist, delicate fingers worrying at the opening.  

Shaking her head, Iris takes a deep exvent. She’s been preparing for this moment the entire week.

She’s going to do this!

All of her thoughts wipe away when she fully arrives to the garage just as the gates are parting for the Zeroth Unit transit. Dawn is so young that the only lights from the outside world are the distant orange street lights dotting the roads like floating orbs.  

It’s now part of Iris’ routine to greet her Unit’s safe return after each patrol. Operators aren’t required to, but ever since her first day on the job Iris continued welcoming her Unit and didn’t see the reason to stop.

Though it’s been harder to look at Zero as of late.  

Once Iris realizes that she has a crush on Zero, - bolts, it’s harder to properly _function_ around him sometimes. The major benefit of being an operator is that there’s an innate disconnect; it’s literally her job to look at the bigger picture and to be the voice centering the Hunters when the action overtakes all of their senses.

But here she is, the young operator tensing up at the sight of red and gold when the van’s riders come flooding out. Everyone besides Zero are rotating and stretching complacent joints, yawning out greetings at Iris.

“Welcome back,” Iris says as cheerfully as possible over her thrumming core, extremely aware of the small weight by her hip.

Okay she can do this. She’s going to tell him right -  

Zero points at a lone pillar a couple paces away. “Iris, with me. Alone,” he orders stonily.

Iris’ smile freezes in place.

She doesn’t have proximity sensors like some reploids do and yet she can practically _feel_ the other Hunters around her grow statue-still from the side, their optics boring into her like lasers.

Without another word, Zero stalks towards it, expecting Iris to follow him. Spring green eyes dart back and forth from Zero’s retreating back and the other Hunters, who promptly avoid her gaze, acting as if they’re not interested in the potential drama.  

“D-Did I do something wrong?” she whimpers.

Web Spider’s the only one who answers. “Personally I don’t think so? You were doing fine to me.”

Except he doesn’t sound confident.

Web Spider shrugs helplessly with two pairs of arms before scurrying away with the other members out the parking lot, leaving Iris alone.

Step by step, the Navigator stiffly makes her way to where Zero is waiting for her, processor turning blank as the distance between her and the warbot closes.

Zero barely opens his mouth when Iris says,” I’m sorry!”

The warbot frowns, but it’s in a way that Iris understands is out of being confused instead of being displeased. “Why are you apologizing this time?”

“Aren’t you talking to me because I wasn’t being professional or helpful enough tonight?” Iris asks anxiously. “Or because I made a bunch of mistakes?”

“If you were making errors, I would tell you as they happen,” says Zero. “Also, judgment errors are highly subjective. Your first time on the job is a demonstration of that.”

Ah, right.

“I chose you as my main Navigator because you have a completely different perspective from mine and you weren’t afraid to say it.” Zero pauses, mentally rewinding. “No, you were afraid. But your fear didn’t stop you.”

More like Iris’ fear made her do dumb, impulsive things at the heat of the moment and it’s miraculous that they all turned out for the better.

“That’s why I’m talking to you. You reverted. You were getting better, but since last week you’ve been acting the same way as when you first started. You’re afraid of me again.”

Iris blinks. “I’m not afraid of you?” she says slowly.  

Unconvinced, Zero flatly says, “Yes you are. You’re not subtle.”

That’s why Iris realizes that she’s trembling and she silently curses at her overworked heart. She wishes she knows how to turn off the connection between her emotions and her physical reactions. Is it really necessary for reploids to express the entire range that humans do? Isn’t there a point where it’s too much?

“It’s not you I’m afraid of,” the brunette insists. “It’s…um…”

Zero’s unblinking stare is making this worse for her.

Needing to do something, Iris fumbles for her pouch and summons a small wrapped box. “Here! This is for you!”

The crimson warbot blinks. He tilts his head, examining her and the present suspiciously. “What is it?” he asks, making no move to take it.

“It’s a gift.” Iris fidgets in place. “I h-hope you like it.”

The combatdroid slowly takes it. Shooting one last look at the squirming operator, Zero picks apart the red ribbon and lifts the lid. He digs through the bubble wrapping and fishes out a small, rectangular device.

“It’s a SCR-311 external unit,” Iris begins meekly. “I heard from a friend that when a reploid is having trouble sleeping, it’s because there are processes running without stopping and they wouldn’t stop no matter what.” Explaining the use is steadying her. Iris takes another deep exvent. “It causes an infinite loop of memory consumption, making it harder to recharge energy. I know you don’t like going to Medbay so if you’re still having trouble sleeping, you can use that to help sleep better.”

Zero is visibly stunned. “This is beyond your duties as a Navigator. You don’t need to do this.”

“I know I don’t, but I want to because I…” Iris fiddles with the edge of her dress. She opens and closes her mouth, trying to say the right words but she can’t trust her vocals to shift through the thousand thoughts storming in her head and picking the best ones.

Why is this so hard?

“I, um…I…you’re the one I…”

_It’s just three words. I like you. I like you._

“I…li-li…”

Iris’ processor keeps spinning on those three simple words and yet they’re coming out. She feels like she’s going to explode and she doesn’t know why, this shouldn’t be hard and yet she can’t take it, _she can’t take this at all._  

She sees Zero move and the words spill out.

“I love you!”

Silence befalls the two of them.

Iris staggers backwards, hands covering her mouth. She turns away, shaking.

That’s – that’s not what she meant to say. Love? Is she malfunctioning? She’s malfunctioning. She must be! She had only one directive and she failed it completely – fritz, even the most basic of all drones installed with a sound recorder could execute her goal!

“Are you going to die?”

_Huh?_

She looks over her shoulder. Zero’s eyes are wide. His lips are lightly parted, brows set in deep confusion. This is the most expressive Iris has ever seen him.

“No?” Iris manages. While she does feel like her systems are burning up from the inside, she’s not going to be offline. Well, she hopes.

Looking away, Zero grits his teeth. “The last time I heard that it was before I was going to…” he trails off, lost in some memory that Iris can’t access. He shakes his head and faces her again, scowling. “What do you want? What’s your goal?”

Iris shrinks. “I just wanted to tell you how I feel,” she says quietly, face hot. Her core feels like it’s crumbling within itself. “That’s all. I’ve been feeling like this towards y-you for a while a-and…”

Her voice statics. Her vocal box rattles, sounds skipping and she hiccups. Tears crawl down her cheeks.

“S-sorry,” she gasps out between quiet sobs, trying to smile as she tries to wipe her tears with the back of her hands. “That wasn’t true. I want more. I was..." She thinks back to all those things she read online; the poems, the songs, the articles that lists out her desires like symptoms, and repeats out loud  the most basic components that resonated with her. "I was hoping you would like me back. I want to spend more time with you outside of work and know you better. I want you to be mine and I want to be yours.”

Zero takes a step back. “You…want to be mine?”

Iris nods, pushing and unsticking her bangs out of her wet eyes.  

“Why do you want to be mine? Aren’t you scared of me?”

“I did, but not anymore.”

“That’s a judgment error,” Zero whispers harshly. “You should have stayed afraid.“

“After spending all that time with you?” Iris laughs brokenly. “How can I? You go out every day, risking your life to fight against Mavericks. You choose to use your power to protect the innocent. How can I be afraid of you when you’re a hero?”

Zero’s gaze becomes steely. “Last week when Bukali dropped his gun, you couldn’t pick it up. That’s because you don’t like weapons or fighting, correct?”

The change in subject throws Iris off. “Yes?”

Zero stretches out right arm. It changes into a buster, the open end lighting up with contained power.

“When an enemy appears in front of me, I will terminate it,” the combatdroid replies to a shocked Iris. “I am essentially a weapon. My directive is to fight. I’m no hero, Iris. You don’t know what you’re talking about when you say you want to belong to me.”

Both androids don’t move for a long time.

Then Iris inches closer, raising one shaky hand. She spreads her fingers apart and rests is right in front of the muzzle. The heat seeps into her circuits.

Iris murmurs,” I can touch you.”  

The combatdroid twitches. The buster’s charge dwindles down to nothing and flashes back into an arm, resulting with Iris’ hand resting on top of the warbot’s.

“…Okay,” says Zero meaningfully. 

"Okay." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ha hahahahha ha

The previous day was such a maelstrom of emotion and activity that Iris rises from recharge groggy. Fully relying on subroutines, the young Navigator drags her pedes dazedly through the hallway, nearly bumping into another night-shift operator joining in the elevator with her.

“Good morning,” she murmurs as always whenever company’s present no matter who it is. It’s a habit embedded into her like code.

The next five minutes is a blur of mindlessly repeating good mornings to every passenger that joins on the way to the canteen,  _finally_ arriving to the canteen, and beelining to the counter.

After receiving her E-Tank from the distributor drone, she turns around, stopping short of slamming into red.

Blinking blearily, she slowly raises her chin.

Seeing Zero summons all the charged emotions associated with yesterday’s memories crash into her like a wave of compiling errors, jolting her completely awake like turning on a switch.

She’s not prepared. What does she say? Last night Zero told her that he needed to recharge and left without another word. What do you say to the person you’ve confessed to after the confession?

Zero rescues her by talking first. “Hello Iris.”

Calm and not cold. Everything is okay. She’s okay.

“G-good morning,” Iris responds, internally hissing at herself to calm down. This is two people saying hi to each other before work. This isn’t impossible to go through.

Except Iris is gripping her E-tank like a lifeline. Timidly, she manages, “Did you sleep well last night?”

“I did. The external unit was helpful.”

Oh thank  _goodness._

Iris beams with a grin a tad stretched at the edges. “I’m glad! I was so worried that it wouldn’t work and that I messed up because I read online that what’s worse than not giving a gift is giving a bad gift because it could offend the other person – “ Zero is blinking blankly at her and Iris pulls the mental brakes harshly. “And fritz, I’m rambling again. S-sorry.”

Why does she keep doing this?

Despite the clamor and chatter around Iris, the air between her and Zero feels so thick that it’s gobbling in the background noise. It’s like a cloud of powder waiting for a spark to set it all aflame.

Then Zero makes a light gesture towards an empty table. ”May I sit with you?”

Iris lifts her chin, eyes wide. Not trusting herself to  _not_  blabber off again, she nods eagerly.

Zero takes a seat at a rounded table and Iris joins across from him. With a raised brow, Zero makes a small huff through his nose and shuffles around the circular bench until his body is brushing against hers.

“This is how I mistakenly concluded that you were afraid of me,” Zero notes to an extremely still Iris. “Relax. You don’t see me as a weapon, right?”

“No,” Iris breathes, spring green eyes gleaming. She smiles. “I don’t.”

And that’s how the first change goes. Small and yet so significant.

Iris is bad at this dating thing. To be fair, it’s her first time, and from what Double tells her, it’s Zero’s first time too. Which means, they both don’t have any previous references to compare experiences; unlike Iris, it seems that Zero isn’t as interested in the details or the “how-to-do.”

Zero has no expectations at all.

For someone who’s constantly afraid of screwing up, this helps Iris like nothing else.

Another change happens a few days later when Iris leaves her room. The moment the door slides open, Iris is greeted with the sight of Zero right next to her door. The warbot’s eyes are closed, arms crossed with one foot pressed against the wall, the picture of relaxed and cool as if he’s been resting in that position for a while.

“Good morning Zero!” says Iris, pleasantly surprised. “What are you doing here?”

Zero pushes off against the wall. “To walk with you,” he says simply. “Is that alright with you?”

“Of course,” Iris stammers, feeling her face grow hot. Quietly but no less sincere, she says, “I’m always happy to see you.”

And there it is: the combatdroid gives a small soft smile that has Iris’ core thrumming no matter how many times she sees it. He’s becoming more generous with his emotions and Iris wants to gobble every single one of them up.

Recalling Zero’s words about belonging, Iris lifts a hand, feeling a little bold and greedy. “Is it okay I can hold hands with you?

Instantly, Zero’s larger hand envelops hers and she gasps, relishing how strong and warm it is.

“This is good,” the combatdroid says, gentle and approving and Iris is skyrocketing to the stratosphere.

How is it that her systems are made of metal and rubber and yet she feels so soft? 

They start holding hands more frequently after that. Usually Iris has to initiate it. If Zero didn’t seem happy in his own, calm way, Iris would be harboring doubts that she’s being pushy.

But he’s not and so she isn’t.

 _It’s like being a Navigator, but without the mission stress,_ Iris muses giddily.  _We can set our own pace. We can guide this however we like._

The novelty of being with Zero in the refuel hour before work starts fades, but Iris is happier for it. She’s no medic reploid, but she’s certain that feeling like she’s going to melt from the inside by being in Zero’s proximity isn’t healthy.    

Zero being by her side becoming the norm sounds so wonderful that Iris quietly hungers for it. Sweet and peaceful.

Now if only work can be the same.

 

* * *

 

Extremists were gathering in specific areas of interest in Abel City’s storm sewer system. The mission is crime prevention: neutralize the threat before it can escalate.

The Zeroth Unit members are slowly getting into position within the shadowed corners in an underground gallery, aiming for areas near the exit points. Biding for the right time to strike.

Iris’ recon mech buzzes noiselessly as it rises higher and higher to the impressive ceiling of this damp and dim multi-junction. Through the screen, she watches the gathered crowd of reploids listening attentively to their leader, standing at the center on top of a makeshift podium.

“Is it really a crime that I think that Sigma’s got the right idea? When have humans done anything good for this planet besides being fertilizer?”

Iris bites her lip _. “Zero, what is he talking about?”_ she asks in their private channel, not wanting the other Zeroth Unit members to respond while they’re focusing on their tasks.

 _“They’re Sigma sympathizers,”_ her captain responds with such thick venom that Iris recoils.  _“Don’t worry about it.”_

Except Iris can’t help it. This Maverick is revealing his motivations, and as disturbing as they sound, they are reasons. There's more to this than having malfunctions or having construction errors - Iris is proof that a broken reploid doesn't necessarily mean they're a Maverick. Thought she doesn't know much about Sigma (she still can't read anything related to the wars without tearing up), Iris wants to understand even just a little bit.

“- every single case it’s a smelting fetus acting like a little savage and us reploids are supposed to take that? Whatever problems I have with my fellow reploids, they aren’t generally inclined to such behavior and the humans have to take that into consideration when they’re trying to organize their society!”

 _“In position, over,”_  says Bukali into the main Zeroth Unit channel.

“Abel City’s run by a parasitic class of crumblies when this is our city. We built this city, we sustained this city, we should _own_  this city! We  _deserve_  it. We would be better!”

 _“Got the west entrance covered, over,”_  Hilbis joins a minute later.

“We should be the ones with the power, but we don’t. Why? Because the humans are scared! Look no further than rusting Mega Man! The reploid template walks around with a fragging buster for an arm so why don’t we have that? That’s because the humans designed the system so we  _can’t_  go against them.”

 _So it’s a…society problem?_ Iris wonders.

That makes sense. Well, then what can Iris do about that? She’s just one person! She can’t help that. How can anyone help that?

The only solution she can think of is that these unsatisfied reploids can…go somewhere where there aren’t any humans. It’s not like theirs lives are bonded to humans like Iris is to her brother. If they hate humans so much, why can’t they just leave?

“…doesn’t mean we’ll go down fighting! I don’t have a buster, but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of violence. I can make myself  _more_  capable! I’m here to spread ideas and talk in the hopes that someone more capable can do that. Someone like Sigma who wouldn’t roll over for a scrappin’ milk-sucker! Someone who isn’t a fracking human pet!”

 _“…At the second floor. Ready for crowd control, sir,”_  says Web Spider.

 _“Then let’s move,”_  Zero orders lowly before he draws out his saber and dashes in.  

The good news is that Iris is getting better with violence. She still can’t stand it or understand it but the younger Navigator is developing thicker cables. It sounds awful, but between Zero and a Maverick, she prefers that Zero comes out on top, every single time.

 _I wish there is a world where there should need to be such a choice,_ she mourns, twisting away from the screen.  _A world where Zero and Colonel and everyone doesn’t need to fight._

A simpler world.

 

* * *

 

After the mission, Zero is clearly not in a good mood.

Iris is down at the loading dock, doing her daily ritual of welcoming back the Zeroth Unit. Instead of walking towards the elevator with the rest of the Unit, Zero goes straight to Iris and wraps his arms around her.

Over her whiting processor, Iris hears Web Spider make a strangled sound before someone hisses,” Stop staring you smeltturd!” and fading footsteps.

“Are you okay?” Iris asks tentatively.

“You really can’t wield a weapon?” Zero asks in her aural cone, not really an answer.

Iris shakes her head into Zero’s shoulder. “I can’t. That’s not who I am.”

The Crimson Hunter’s hold grows tighter. “You hit me with the Batton mech. You can hit people.”

The operator grimaces. “That was honestly a mistake. I just pushed too hard on the control. I don’t think I can raise a hand against anyone.”  

“Colonel told me to take care of you because he can’t always be there for you,” Zero speaks in a low rush. “What if I’m not there for you either? I never needed to think about these things. The one other person I care about can fight. He can take care of himself.”

“X,” Iris answers simply and Zero stiffens.

“Yes.”

“I wish I can see him. He’s your best friend. He’s to you like Colonel is to me, right?”

“I don’t know. X is a special case. He’s not my family.” Iris can’t see Zero’s face when he’s bending his head over her shoulder like this. However, she can feel his frustration. “He’s my friend but doesn’t belong to me. He belongs to the world and everyone. He’s  _Mega Man._ ”

Zero spits the title out like it’s a curse and Iris brushes the warbot’s golden hair with her hand, understanding.

“Colonel is someone really important too. He has to help lead Repliforce so even though he tries, it’s hard.”

“At least he tries,” Zero mutters bitterly.

“I’m here for you, Zero,” Iris states, projecting as much confidence she can. “I’ll always be here for you.”

“Are you? Don’t you belong to your brother too? Between me and him, you’ll choose him, won’t you?”

“It’s…it’s complicated.” Without pulling her arms away from Zero’s shoulders, Iris pushes away enough to look side to side in case there’s anyone immediately around them. After confirming there isn’t anyone who can eavesdrop, she closes in and whispers, “My brother and I are the same person.”

Zero frowns. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“We were supposed to be one reploid, but our contrasting personalities were too much for one construction to handle. We had to split apart or else we’d break. We’re essentially two halves of a whole.

“…I can’t fault you for belonging to your other half then.”

“I still belong to you too, Zero,” Iris says hurriedly, trying to be optimistic. “I want to help everyone, but now that I think about it…I already failed that. My brother is my foremost priority because of what we are.” She smiles. “I can prioritize one more, I think.”

Zero doesn’t say anything more, just raises his hand hesitantly.

Iris takes it and brings it to her cheek, caressing against it.

 

* * *

 

Double chokes on his fuel. Hacking, he pounds at his chest, the noise causing the reploids sitting at the tables nearest to him to look at him curiously before resuming their attentions back to their respective businesses.

Iris is about to reach over to pat his back but the yellow reploid swiftly raises a hand to stop her. “I’m fine!” he exclaims, wiping his mouth. “Sorry, I’m just having a hard time visualizing it.”

“Why is it hard?”

Double barks out a high-strung laugh. “Gosh Iris, when I said you’re one special bot, I meant it! Only you would kiss someone as scary as him.”   

The Navigator pouts. “Zero isn’t as scary as you think he is.”

“Apparently.” Double shakes his head, laughter dying into soft chuckles. “The big, bad Red Ripper seriously dating. Bolts, if I didn’t hear it from your own mouth, I’d thought it would be another rumor.”

“It’s not good to judge people without getting to know them, Double. People are really complex! They can be showing you one side and be hiding a completely different side.” Like how Alia seems to have no interest outside of her work, but her door receives monthly packages of plant fertilizer. Like how Colonel is the stern and prideful military leader to everyone, but is the protective big brother to Iris.

Like how Zero is the intimidating, cool SA-Rank Hunter who everyone assumes doesn’t care about other people, but whenever he and Iris walk outside together, he would always walk at the outer side of the pavement as if to shield her.

Eyes twinkling, Double lifts his E-Tank in acknowledgment. “Truer words have never been said. I’m really happy for you, Iris. You two are good together.”

Iris blushes. “Thanks, Double.”

Suddenly, Double stiffens, looking at something over Iris’ shoulder. The Navigator turns around and a smile steals over her face.  

Behind her where the elevators are, the doors slide open, revealing a group of reploids. All of them stream towards the E-Tank distributing drones except for one, familiar Hunter.

“Zero!” Iris chirps. She waves her hand, over the gradually crowding from across the canteen room.

Zero’s gaze instantly locks with hers, his eyes as sharp as blades at first before softening. He smoothly moves around the tables and passing bodies, striding towards Iris’ circular table like it’s his mission.

“Aaannnd that’s my cue to go,” erupts Double, chugging down his E-Tank like there’s no tomorrow.

Iris snaps her head back to the yellow reploid. “Huh, why?”

“Don’t want to get in between with the two lovebots, y’know?” Double says after a heavy gulp. “Besides, don’t you want to have all the alone time you can get with him?”

Flushing red, Iris says, “I do like spending time with Zero, but I like spending time with you too! You’re my friend and I barely see you in person because your schedule is so random.”

Double opens his mouth to protest, but before he can say anything, Zero appears right next to their table as if he teleported with a, “Hello Iris.” 

Iris is now used to Zero’s speed so she doesn’t jump when the warbot seemingly pops out of nowhere. Double, on the other hand, isn’t with the way he nearly slips out of his seat with a stunned squawk.

Zero watches the yellow reploid scrambling to recompose himself. “You’re Iris’ friend.”

“Yes sir,” Double stammers. “A friend of Iris. That is indeed me.”

Iris claps her hands together in delight. “Oh, that’s right! Zero, this is your first time seeing Double, isn’t it?”

“It’s not,” replies Zero as he sits next to Iris. “I’ve seen him multiple times at Command Center and around Base. He’s always running whenever we cross paths.”

At Iris’ exasperated sigh, Double splutters indignantly. “I’m always busy doing stuff! It’s not like I’m afraid of Zero and running away from him, nope.”

“Then you wouldn’t have a problem sitting with us,” Iris says cheerfully. “Please stay? The more the merrier!”

“Sit,” Zero says almost like an order. The warbot levels a long, assessing look at the yellow reploid. “If Iris is indeed your friend, you should try to make her happy if it doesn’t cost you.”

Double grimaces feebly, sufficiently trapped between a hopeful Iris and an expectant Zero. “Are you sure? I’m just a nobody rookie. I feel like I’m overstepping my boundaries sitting next to an esteemed Hunter like you, sir…”

“I don’t care about things like that,” the Zeroth Unit Leader remarks sounding distracted. Since he’s lifting a hand to his aural cone, turning away to whisper something, he must be receiving a quick call.

Double blinks, face momentarily blank as if he realizes something. Then he smiles, something slow and understanding. He settles back into his seat, swinging one awkward limb after the other, but looks a lot calmer than earlier.

On the other side, Iris is frowning. She’s crossing her arms, offended at the words her friend used to describe himself.

“You’re not useless, Double,” she insists. “You helped me so much ever since I started working for the Hunters. I don’t know a reploid who knows so many things like you do.”

“Aww stop. You’re making me bashful,” grins Double sheepishly. “I just like talking a lot of people. You don’t understand how it’s like getting assigned to all the random, menials jobs that us unplaced guys get. Without gossip, I’d go bolts from boredom!” Even though he’s snickering, his shoulders are scrunching up. He’s tilting his body at an angle that he’s facing Iris more and away from Zero

“What have you been hearing lately?” Iris prompts. Hopefully after chatting for some time, Double can relax.

It works a bit. Double doesn’t let down his stiff posture, but he brightens. “Just your occasional real news and whacky rumors. The real new bits are sort of interesting. Judicial review for cybernetics passed so humans can last way longer in space. Do you know what that means?”

Iris blinks. “We’ll have cyborgs?”

Bending forward, Double lowers his voice conspiratorially, tone full of ill-hidden amusement. “It means there’ll be more credence to all the robot ghost stories.”

“Reploid ghosts?”

Double fails to suppress a snort. “Yeah, robot ghosts. Do you remember that weird energy signal that popped out of nowhere a couple months ago? The news is that it’s just another meteorite crash. Consider: robot zombies.”  

Iris giggles while Zero raises an intrigued brow. 

“And you know how some Hunters keep saying that they see a white reploid during patrol but can never have a good look at it?” continues Double. “Moreem from the Fourteenth says it’s the ghost of a Maverick, furious at the Hunters for terminating it. Now it’s devoting its afterlife to make reploids leak for eternity by standing menacingly and disappearing.”

“Ooh, I’ve heard of that one from Alia. She acts like she doesn’t care, but she does. I think she’s afraid of ghosts.”

“Alia,” Zero says with a raises brow. “Wouldn’t have expected that from her.”

“Me too. It’s kind of cute,” Iris beams. “What other real news are out there, Double?”

“Hmm, oh! I nearly forgot – you’re gonna like this one, Iris,” the yellow reploids enthuses. “You’ve heard of Sky Lagoon, right?”

Iris nods. “The aerial city. It’s going to travel outside of Abel City for the Flower Festival, right?” She hums wistfully. “A festival full of flowers. That sounds nice…”

“The festival entry is free but the problem is that traveling up to Sky Lagoon is smelting pricy, right? Well, I got an awesome surprise for you, Iris. There’s a huge discount for – “

“What are you standing there for?” Zero interjects.

“I didn’t want to interrupt,” answers a soft voice Iris hasn’t heard before. “I didn’t know you had company, Zero.”

“It’s not a problem, is it?”

“Of course not.”

That’s when she notices there’s another presence standing by the table. She follows Zero’s line of sight, twisting her head over her shoulder a second time to see a smiling figure that she recognized from seeing briefly in photos: an android adorned in a minimalistic, blue armor.

“You’re Captain X,” Iris realizes.

“I am,” says the Mega Man. “And you two are…?”

Double shoots up from his seat so fast that he hits the table’s edge, causing Iris to shout in surprise. “Double, sir! I’m a rookie. Still uncategorized but I’m getting Navigator training so…”

“It’s nice to meet you. Double...that’s an interesting name. Did you choose that for yourself?”

“Not really. It just refers to my double supply in tanks,” Double says, patting his round abdomen self-deprecatingly. Iris knows that Double isn’t that fond of his round, heavy design since it’s not optimal for Maverick Hunting, hence barring him from advancing. Iris hopes that one day, Double will embrace his design, clumsy gyros and all.

“If you’re a rookie, are you training under Zero?”

“No, sir. I kinda got dragged here because of Iris, heh heh.” He pauses. “Not that I  _didn’t_ want to be dragged, I mean, being here with someone so scar – amazing! Amazing like Zero is such an honor – and wow, you’re here too Captain X, and bolts, I um, don’t really deserve to be here in the company of such prestigious Hunters like you and - ”

“Don’t be silly. We’re normal bots like everyone else.” X redirects his attention to the Navigator. “Iris, is it?”

“Yes, sir,” Iris answers, trying not to be too excited. “I go by she, her pronouns and I’m the Navigator for the Zeroth Unit. I’m so glad that I can finally meet you!”

She really is. With Zero as their common link to each other, Iris hoped she would meet Zero’s best friend earlier, but she never did. Zero explained that X operates during the day shift and is occupied by some personal project that he can’t disclose. He used to talk about X as much as Iris talked about Colonel, but that decreased as time went on.

 _“I can't interfere with his directive.”_ Iris recalls Zero muttering some time ago. She remembers it so clearly because even though Zero’s voice was neutral, there was a sense of disappointment radiating from him.  _“I can't blame him. He's working on something big. He always is."_

But now he’s here. This is wonderful – both Iris and Zero are meeting each other’s close friends for the first time!  

“It’s nice to meet you too. So, what were you all talking about?” inquires X as he comes closer to the table.

Iris scoots closer to Zero and she sees Double doing the same at the opposite direction, making space for X. The Azure Hunter smiles and accepts the opened spot.

“We were talking about Sky Lagoon,” provides Iris helpfully.   

“Sky Lagoon? I haven’t gone there before, but I heard it’s a very beautiful city,” inputs X. “It’s famous for its high-tech infrastructure and spa attraction.”

“If you haven’t gone there, you should take the chance, sir,” Double encourages. “The Flower Festival is coming right around the corner. Imagine riding the Ferris wheel or taking an oil bath surrounded by millions of flowers.”

“That sounds so beautiful.” Iris was activated around the beginning of autumn so this has been her first spring. She’s seen flowers in pictures, in vases, and in small budding patches fighting against the dying frost at the park. She can’t imagine how a million flowers would look like. “I would love to see that.”

“I can take you.”

Whatever background processes Zero was conducting is done now. He’s completely focusing on her with the laser bright intensity that makes her shiver every time she receives it. He’s smiling a smile so gentle it tugs her core.

“I finished reserving two shuttle tickets into the South Gate. That’s going to be where the parade is going to start.”

“Bolts, that was fast,” mutters Double at the same time Iris gapes.

“Zero, isn’t the Festival going to happen during the day? And what about work and - ”

“It'll take some work-around, but it can be done. Don’t worry about it, Iris.” Zero’s eyes are upturned, those deep blue pools dancing in mirth. “I have you.”

He has her and she has him.  

Iris feels her entire face bloom into a large grin. She can’t help herself; she launches forward and wraps her arms around Zero, pressing close to his body, blonde hair caressing her cheeks. She’s so touched. “You’re the best, Zero,” she murmurs sincerely.

There’s a harsh noise that bursts from X. The blue android shoves away from the table, viridian eyes wide and unseeing, a hand reaching up to his helmet.

Before Iris can ask if he’s okay, the Elite Unit Leader is waving it off. He’s smiling but there’s something shaky and tired about it. “Thank you so much for letting me join you all for a moment,” he says professionally. “I wanted to drop by to say hi, but now I have to go. There’s work that needs to be done.”

Iris feels Zero tensing next to her. “X – “

“Sorry, but I’m really busy. I’ll talk to you later, Zero!” X barely shouts behinds him before he maneuvers around the obstacles of tables, seats, and bodies, vanishing within seconds.

Double makes a noise akin to a deflating balloon. “There he goes. Honestly, it’s surprising enough to see him be still for five minutes.”

“It’s surprising to see him at all,” Zero says expressionlessly. His face is giving nothing away, which means he’s hiding how he truly feels. Iris lays a comforting hand over his between them.

“That makes him the real robot ghost around here,” remarks Double lightly. ”What’s gotten him so busy? Sure he’s a Unit Leader, but so are you and you have a  _girlfriend.”_

Both her and Zero’s eyes meet and the brunette smiles helplessly, heat coursing through her. “I’m glad that you can spare some time for me. Colonel has been awfully busy lately too.” Since Repliforce expanded to six full units, Iris’ brother has his hands full. “Being able to spend time with you like this…I treasure it a lot.”

“…Me too.”

“Geez, you guys are sappy,” Double groans half-heartedly, mouth twitching at one end. “It’s like you two are in your own little world.”

“Double!” Iris whines, face crimson again in her embarrassment. But it’s such a pettily small thing compare to this immense bliss cushioning around it. Her heart feels so full and she’s smiling again - she doesn’t think she can stop smiling. She’s in love.

Zero makes her  _so_  happy. She can’t imagine he will ever stop making her happy.

 

* * *

  

The Hunters are undermanned. They haven’t properly recovered their numbers since the previous war, which means there’s a lot of empty spaces waiting to be filled.

Until then, Double comes and goes wherever he pleases.

It’s honestly hilarious how naïve these idiots are. Because the Council is too cautious to give them anything, the Maverick Hunters have become desperate to the point that they’re willing to take in anyone, even as someone with such horrid qualifications as the fake ones Double turned in. The security here is so scrap that Double sometimes wonders why his liege doesn’t simply order him to set up a bunch of bombs and level the entire place down.

Well, that’s not for him to decide. Master Sigma is ineffable. The undying, all-powerful reploid.

The Messiah.

Whatever his liege wishes for Double to do, the spy will carry it out to the smallest cog.

“From what I’ve learned, apparently X ordered for the Mavericks to be captured and preserved,” Double relays faithfully to the mic. “He wanted to know why reploids were becoming Maverick and suddenly stopped. However, he became busier and frequents Cain Labs in his off time.”

A few moments later, Double laughs again. “Zero? There’s nothing to worry about there. He’s found a new toy.

“…Hmm? Oh, her name’s Iris. She’s doing a good job keeping his attention occupied. Before she came, I had to run away from him because he kept staring at me for too long. Like he was trying to pin down what’s off.”

Double smirks, grasping the side of his helmet in wonder. “But this time I sat next to him for an entire hour and he didn’t care! X is one thing, but Zero? Hah! They’re both rusting up. Either way, everything is going smoothly. No one has caught on.”

Double stretches out one hand, elongating his fingers and reverting them.

“’Magma Dragoon?’ He may be keeping a low profile, but he’s getting antsy. He’s going bolts from the inaction. If he doesn’t keep his processor on straight until the Flower Festival, I’ll take care of him for you…hmm? Another mission?”

After listening to his new orders, Double bends his head back, barely suppressing his joy.

“Ohhhh, I can’t wait to look at X’s face then. Thank you, my liege. I won't let you down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, that's a wrap!  
> I wrote this fic because I never believed in Iris and Zero's relationship in the games. Us players never had the chance to believe in it. I wanted to fix that at least for myself.  
> Though this story can stand by itself, it's also a crucial story to help set up a series called "Game Restart." If you're reading "Before the Cannonball," you'd see how the end part is essentially the same.


End file.
